Donate SIGN UP

This Is My Friend.......

Avatar Image
10ClarionSt | 10:21 Sat 05th Mar 2022 | ChatterBank
10 Answers
...who received The Ushkov Medal from President Putin. (I mentiomed it in a recent post) Rolf Monteith is wearing the medal on the right side of his jacket. This was recorded 2 years ago, when Rolf was 96, just berfore his 97th birthday. He is already planning for his 100th birthday next year. People are wondering how he's going to fit everything in. I know his family will do everything they can to accomodate him!
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 10 of 10rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by 10ClarionSt. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
where's the picture?
Bit more information clarion....what is the medal and for what reason is it awarded?
Question Author
Sorry folks? Here you go. It's an age thing!

Grand chap.
He doesn't look his age, blessed with good genes.
Question Author
Thanks Squad. Rolf is a veteran of the Arctic Convoys. 3 years ago, President Putin awarded the Ushkov Medal to surviving veterans, as he had great admiration for the way the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, kept Russia supplied during WW2.

Actually, most of the goods were made in America but were transported to Russia by the Merchant Navy under escort from both American and British Navies.
Question Author
One famous veteran of the Arctic Convoys who served in the American Navy was Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. Tis true folks.
well done Capn !
I am not a medallist - right side means? - foreign decoration.
Did he have to get the sovereigns permission? or is that only serving officers

Nelson commonly wore the Sultan's heavily jewelled award, which even THEN they complained about - also the last to wear his hat cross ways ( coming towards one like a ship in full sail)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5061833/Mystery-Lord-Nelson-s-300-diamond-hat-piece-revealed.html

eek its gone!

the medals the Capn has - and three bars....
certainly NOT a standard hand-out - two stars ( he has only one) and three gongs ( kings medal, defence medal, war medal) someone is gonna say I am wrong. - the capn has many many more

and boys and gurlz - the arctic convoys were remembered more for the PQ17 - the Germans sank the lot ! - even at the time l1942 ooked on as an awful disaster. Famours sixties libel case about it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_PQ_17
sozza - Nelson wore a foreign decoration without George III's permission -demanded by common law at the time. Now there is a statute.
Dr Rick Jolly was decorated by both sides - UK and the argies for medical work - y la reina Isabel dice 'si'
Question Author
Thanks for the replies folks, especially Peter Pedant. Good info in there Peter re Nelson. Thanks.

The Germans didn't sink the lot. 11 ships actually made it to Russia, among them was HMS Ayrshire and the Captain Leo Gradwell, who escorted 3 American merchant ships into Archangel. See here:

The bravery of the sailors was often jaw-dropping. At one point Leo Gradwell, a barrister who was captaining a customised trawler, HMS Ayrshire, defied orders and escorted three of the merchant ships to Arkhangelesk in the far north of the Soviet Union. The American crews were all for scuttling their vessels, but he persuaded them to proceed to their agreed destination. During their mission his mini-convoy got snagged in heavy ice flows. Gradwell ordered his crew to paint the ships white, then use bedsheets to mask the decks. Weapons were brought up from the hold in case Nazi ships approached - he even contemplated using the Ayrshire to ram the Tirpitz. Gradwell was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross in 1942. After the war, he survived polio then went on to represent Stephen Ward during the 1963 Profumo Trial.

1 to 10 of 10rss feed

Do you know the answer?

This Is My Friend.......

Answer Question >>