News that nuclear test veterans are to receive their own medal has been welcomed by Sir John Hayes.
The South Holland and the Deepings MP is patron of the British Nuclear Test Veteran’s Association and had led a campaign for recognition.
The medal will commemorate the role and contribution of those serving with the nuclear test programme.
“This is momentous, the culmination of a journey which began in the 1950s as over 22,000 servicemen heralded the dawn of Britain’s nuclear age,” he said.
“Having pursued their proper recognition both inside and outside of Parliament for years, winning commitments from then Prime Minister David Cameron for approximately £25m of ex gratia funds to support the declining health of surviving veterans and winning from Boris Johnson MP, when he was Prime Minister, a commitment to recognise the veterans’ service,” he said.
The medal can also be awarded posthumously as a tribute to those who have been lost.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the anniversary last Monday when veterans and their families who met at the National Arboretum, Staffordshire, paid tribute to the ‘nuclear heroes.’
Around 22,000 veterans will be eligible for recognition.
The medal also recognises the contribution of veterans and civilians from across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Kiribati. All service personnel from the Commonwealth and Pacific region who participated in, or were present at, the Montebello Islands, Christmas Island, Malden Island and Maralinga and Emu Field, South Australia, between 1952 and 1967, are eligible.
Veterans, families and next of kin will need to apply for the medal which will be free. It is expected that the first awards will be made next year.
The government has also pledged £450,000 into projects which will commemorate and build further understanding of the experiences of veterans deployed to Australia and the Pacific.
An oral history project is being launched in April next year to chronicle the voices of those involved.
The project will run for two years, giving test veterans the chance to be interviewed and to contribute to a digital archive.
