NOVEMBER 13, 2014: A Port Glasgow veteran was honoured by the Russian Government for his role in the WW2 arctic convoys.
John McLees, 91, received the Ushakov Medal to mark his ‘personal courage and valour’ at a ceremony in Glasgow.
The great-grandfather, who was brought up in Bouverie, was only 18 when he was called up for the war and joined the Royal Navy.
John said: “I feel quite honoured to receive the medal. It means a lot to me. “It’s the highest honour Russia could award to anyone.”
John and fellow servicemen were responsible for the perilous mission of escorting merchant vessels taking food and weapons to Murmansk and Archangel in the USSR between 1941 and 1945.
John, a lead stoker on the ship, said: “It was terrible.
“You would look at all the ships round about you and they looked like ghost ships — the spray would come over the ship and freeze.
“It was 50 degrees below and we had to chip away the ice from the guns.
“There was three or four inches of ice and we had to hang on with one hand to stay on the boat.”
When asked if he felt like a hero after being recognised for his wartime contribution, John modestly replied: “We were just doing our duty.”
John also escorted wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who described the convoys — which claimed the lives of 3,000 British sailors — as ‘the worst journey in the world’.
When he sailed on the Queen Mary to the First Quebec Conference. There were also some lighter moments when the Russian Government presented John’s ship with the gift of a reindeer called Olga, who was later sent to Edinburgh Zoo.
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