The British defence ministry has conferred a new and controversial military award on Galway resident Commander Bill King (96), who is the oldest surviving submarine commander from the second World War.
Cdr King has been conferred with the Arctic Emblem for service north of the Artic Circle and west of the Urals between 1939 and 1945. Just under 3,000 British sailors and merchant seamen were killed during attacks by German U-boats and Luftwaffe bombers, when escorting British merchant ships carrying war materials to Russia.
Cdr King already has seven medals for military service, including the Distinguished Service Order with Bar and the Distinguished Service Cross. He also holds the Blue War Medal for his sailing achievements after the war when he became the first person to sail single-handedly round the world in his yacht, Galway Blazer II.
The Arctic Emblem was introduced by the British government last year as the first official tribute to those second World War veterans who served in very dangerous conditions and extreme weather above latitudes of 66 degrees 32 minutes north.
However, some veterans believe it should have been a full medal and have vowed to campaign for this. The small, white enamelled star is illustrated with a red dot in the centre which represents the flags of the former Soviet Union and Norway.
Cdr King said he was delighted at the recognition, and said it reminded him of the "most beautiful sight" in his life, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights which he saw from his submarine during a night-time surfacing.
"It was as if there was some heavenly body above me with a multicoloured veil," he said.
Mayor of Galway Niall Ó Brolchain, Progressive Democrats TD Noel Grealish and singer Dolores Keane attended with a group of sailors to mark the occasion in Cdr King's home at Oranmore Castle at the weekend, with his son and daughter, Leonie and Tarka, and grandson Cian.
Britain lost four out of every five submarines in the first campaign during the second World War, as the silhouettes of the craft could be seen on the bottom of the North Sea and the Germans also infiltrated radio signals. Cdr King spent 18 years in all on submarines, six of which were during continuous second World War service.
Many of his colleagues were killed, and he recalled at the weekend that the worst attack he experienced was when a New Zealand pilot in a British aircraft mistook his submarine for a German U-boat. He took up skiing, climbing and sailing after the war, and hunted with his wife Anita Leslie, the author.
