Happy St George's Day Moscow!

...... from England and Newcastle.  England and Moscow share a patron saint, St George, whose day is celebrated today April 23rd.  In Newcastle, we have a statue of Saint George which stands in Old Eldon Square.  Incidentally, nearby the statue is a bench which dedicated to the Russian Convoy Club in Newcastle - honouring those who took part in the Arctic Convoys during World War II.

Arctic Convoy Veterans receive medals

After 67 years, veterans of the WW2 Arctic convoys are to receive medals from the UK Government.  

The Arctic Convoys, described as "worst journey in the world" by Winston Churchill, took supplies to the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945.  More than 3,000 men died while on the convoys.

Following a long campaign to get the veterans recognised (by the UK Government) for their extraordinary bravery, the veterans will now receive the new Arctic Star medal and Bomber Command clasp.  The first of up to 250,000 presentations were made by Prime Minister David Cameron at a ceremony in Downing Street who hailed them as a "group of heroes".

Arctic convoy veteran - Glyn Williams

As I mentioned in a blog post of 7 March 2013 (my-first-trip-to-russia.html), I was privileged to meet one such veteran in 1988  who was in my tour group.  Glyn Williams, pictured here, had received a medal from the Soviet Government in 1985, which was offered to British servicemen to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.