A MAN whose late father served in the hellish Arctic Convoy operations of the Second World War, has flown across the world to donate his father’s war medal to a museum.

Geoffrey Negus travelled all the way from his home in New Zealand to present his father’s Arctic Star Medal to members of the Rayleigh Town Museum.

Although he died in 1988, aged 81, the family of Alfred Stanley John Negus applied for the Arctic Star as soon as it was instituted in 2012.

It followed more than a decade of campaigning to have veterans who served on the convoys, formally honoured.

More than 66,000 British sailors and merchant seamen – including Alfred - braved sub-zero temperatures and ran the gauntlet of German warplanes and U-boats to keep the Soviet Union supplied with provisions on the Eastern Front during the Second World War.

The sub-zero conditions in which the men served were described as ‘hell on Earth’ and Winston Churchill once described them as having made ‘the worst journey in the world’.

As well as extreme cold, gales and pack ice, the Allied sailors also had to face the constant risk of enemy bomb attacks. The loss rate for ships was higher than any other Allied convoy route.

Alfred was born on March 31, 1906. His family moved from Leytonstone to Rayleigh and he was raised in Weir Gardens.

In 1927 Alfred married Olive Hazell in Southend and the couple went on to have six children - Sheila, Brian, Alan, Maureen, Christine and Geoffrey.

A painter and decorator by trade, Alfred volunteered to serve in 1941 and undertook his training on HMS Collingwood before serving on HMS Astrid.

He went on to serve aboard HMS Indefatigable - an implacable-class aircraft carrier- on the Arctic Convoy Operations.

These ongoing convoys sailed from the UK, Iceland and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union, particularly Archangel and Murmansk in Russia, in order to keep the Russian troops supplied as the war dragged on.

The most direct route to Russia was by sea which passed through a narrow funnel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases in Norway. It was extremely dangerous, especially in winter when the ice came further south.

Many of the convoys were attacked by German submarines, aircraft and warships.

But it was while Alfred was serving onboard the Indefatigable on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 - near Okinawa in the East China Sea -when the ship was indeed attacked - by a Japanese Kamikaze plane.

This was the first incident of a ship from the British Pacific Fleet being hit by a Kamikaze plane since the start of the war.

Kamikaze translates literally as “Divine Wind” and the infamous suicide pilots earned themselves a place in history as one of Japan’s most dangerous weapons from the war. Throughout the conflict, at least 47 Allied ships were sunk by Kamikaze fighters, while a further 300 were seriously damaged.

During the attack on the Indefatigable, 20 of the ship’s company were killed in the attack but the vessel, thanks to its 10 inch thick steel,was fully operational again within one hour.

Thankfully Alfred survived the attack and after the war he returned home to Rayleigh. He was also awarded the Atlantic Star and Pacific Star defence medals, and then most recently, the Arctic Star, posthumously.

Mike Davies chairman of the Rayleigh Town Museum said: “We are so honoured that Geoffrey has travelled all this way to present us with his father’s medal.

“It is a great honour for us that this very important medal from World War 2 will be added to our collection of medals here at the museum.

The contribution that the Arctic convoys played in the war has only recently been given due credit.

Thanks to the Allied ships more than four million tons of supplies were delivered to the Russians- everything from tanks and aircraft to trucks, tractors, telephone wire, railway engines and boots for army troops. The Indefatigable was sold for scrap in September 1956.

Coincidently the Negus family have another connection with the Rayleigh Town Museum. Alfred’s wife Olive has a brother named Samuel Hazell, who died during World War 1. Samuel, a Corporal with the Essex Regiment, First Battalion, was killed in April of 1917.

The farm labourer , from the Weird, Rayleigh had gone off to war aged just 17. He was killed during the first battle of Arras aged just 19.

Samuel has no known grave but his name appears among those of the 34,718 men commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Memorial at Arras. After his parents died in 1929 and 1933 respectively, his name was included in the wording on their grave in Rayleigh Cemetery.

For his service to King and Country Samuel was warded the Victory Medal, the British Medal and the 1915 Star The Rayleigh Town Museum has a wealth of information about the heroic Samuel Hazell that visitors can find out about.

Alfred’s Arctic Star is now also on display for all to see. *The museum can be found at 91 High Street, Rayleigh. Opening Times are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday s, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.