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Veteran’s fight for right to wear war medal
Source.......Dumfries & Galloway Standard. Aug 6 2010 by Patricia Lewis, Dumfries Standard Friday
http://www.dgstandard.co.uk/dumfries...1311-27006254/
A VETERAN of the Forgotten War pleaded with the Government yesterday: “Let me wear my medal.”
Seventy-two-year-old Andrew Nicoll of Annan revealed how he’s been locked in a four-year fight with officials in Westminster over an award he was given by the Malaysian Government to recognise the conflict in their country between 1957 and 1966.
But because it’s not a British medal, UK rules state it can’t be worn in public.
Mr Nicoll, a retired lance corporal told the Standard: “We feel discriminated against. Soldiers from Australia and other commonwealth countries are allowed to wear their medals but not us.
“We have been told that we are not allowed to wear them because the medal is not British.
“We did not go looking for this medal. We were given it by Malaysia and we accepted it graciously. But we are fighting for the right to wear this medal.”
Mr Nicoll (pictured) was one of hundreds of British soldiers that defended Malaysia’s new-found freedom.
He was the first Scotsman to receive the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) medal from the Malaysian Government in 2006 after they decided to recognise foreign troops who fought there.
Mr Nicoll says that he and other former servicemen simply want the same rights as other veterans.
He said: “We had no choice but to go there because we were conscripted. Even though it was over 50 years ago now I remember it vividly.
“We were in the jungles for two years and they were the most stinking places you can imagine. I was only 18 when I was sent there. Most of the others were just lads as well.”
Mr Nicoll was involved in the conflict for 20 months, spending his national service in the Kings’ Own Scottish Borderer’s before transferring to the SAS.
Since receiving the medal Mr Nicoll and other former servicemen have campaigned for the right to wear it.
A petition, backed by local politicians, was sent to the Queen in 2006.
The veterans received a letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace which informed them that the petition had been passed on to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
They received no reply.
Last September one of Mr Nicoll’s fellow veterans, Mr Paul Alders, from Coventry, put in a Freedom of Information request to find out what happened to the petition.
The FCO informed the group that they had never received the petition.
But a month later, following further correspondence with a member of staff, Mr Alders received an email confirming that the FCO had received the petition but it had gone missing.
Frustrated Mr Nicoll claims he and other veterans had been mistreated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
He said: “They are the most awkward group we have had to deal with.
“One member of staff once called us old men searching for medals because we had nothing else to do since we retired.”
Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown has been supporting the campaign for the medal to be recognised.
He said: “These brave men deserve as much praise and recognition as we can give. The recipients of the PJM should be able to wear it with pride and know they have the support of their Government.
“It is over three years since the position was last reviewed so I think it is important the HD committee, which advises the Queen on Honours and Medals, urgently looks at this again.
“I have submitted a Written Question to Parliament to ask if and when the HD Committee intends to reconsider this.”
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen’s office receives a lot of petitions about varying issues on a daily basis. Buckingham Palace cannot comment on individual petitions.
“After they have arrived at Buckingham Palace they are then passed on to the relevant Government department as it is not up to Buckingham Palace to take action on them.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “There is no record of having received this petition in either the Honours Secretariat or the Secretary of State’s Office in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“If Mr Alders has a copy that he would like us to consider please ask him to contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”
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More information about the campaign can be found at: www.fight4thepjm.org
NOTE..there is also a topic on this in the "Armed Forces" Section of the forum .
Source.......Dumfries & Galloway Standard. Aug 6 2010 by Patricia Lewis, Dumfries Standard Friday
http://www.dgstandard.co.uk/dumfries...1311-27006254/
A VETERAN of the Forgotten War pleaded with the Government yesterday: “Let me wear my medal.”
Seventy-two-year-old Andrew Nicoll of Annan revealed how he’s been locked in a four-year fight with officials in Westminster over an award he was given by the Malaysian Government to recognise the conflict in their country between 1957 and 1966.
But because it’s not a British medal, UK rules state it can’t be worn in public.
Mr Nicoll, a retired lance corporal told the Standard: “We feel discriminated against. Soldiers from Australia and other commonwealth countries are allowed to wear their medals but not us.
“We have been told that we are not allowed to wear them because the medal is not British.
“We did not go looking for this medal. We were given it by Malaysia and we accepted it graciously. But we are fighting for the right to wear this medal.”
Mr Nicoll (pictured) was one of hundreds of British soldiers that defended Malaysia’s new-found freedom.
He was the first Scotsman to receive the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) medal from the Malaysian Government in 2006 after they decided to recognise foreign troops who fought there.
Mr Nicoll says that he and other former servicemen simply want the same rights as other veterans.
He said: “We had no choice but to go there because we were conscripted. Even though it was over 50 years ago now I remember it vividly.
“We were in the jungles for two years and they were the most stinking places you can imagine. I was only 18 when I was sent there. Most of the others were just lads as well.”
Mr Nicoll was involved in the conflict for 20 months, spending his national service in the Kings’ Own Scottish Borderer’s before transferring to the SAS.
Since receiving the medal Mr Nicoll and other former servicemen have campaigned for the right to wear it.
A petition, backed by local politicians, was sent to the Queen in 2006.
The veterans received a letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace which informed them that the petition had been passed on to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
They received no reply.
Last September one of Mr Nicoll’s fellow veterans, Mr Paul Alders, from Coventry, put in a Freedom of Information request to find out what happened to the petition.
The FCO informed the group that they had never received the petition.
But a month later, following further correspondence with a member of staff, Mr Alders received an email confirming that the FCO had received the petition but it had gone missing.
Frustrated Mr Nicoll claims he and other veterans had been mistreated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
He said: “They are the most awkward group we have had to deal with.
“One member of staff once called us old men searching for medals because we had nothing else to do since we retired.”
Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown has been supporting the campaign for the medal to be recognised.
He said: “These brave men deserve as much praise and recognition as we can give. The recipients of the PJM should be able to wear it with pride and know they have the support of their Government.
“It is over three years since the position was last reviewed so I think it is important the HD committee, which advises the Queen on Honours and Medals, urgently looks at this again.
“I have submitted a Written Question to Parliament to ask if and when the HD Committee intends to reconsider this.”
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen’s office receives a lot of petitions about varying issues on a daily basis. Buckingham Palace cannot comment on individual petitions.
“After they have arrived at Buckingham Palace they are then passed on to the relevant Government department as it is not up to Buckingham Palace to take action on them.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “There is no record of having received this petition in either the Honours Secretariat or the Secretary of State’s Office in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“If Mr Alders has a copy that he would like us to consider please ask him to contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the campaign can be found at: www.fight4thepjm.org
NOTE..there is also a topic on this in the "Armed Forces" Section of the forum .
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