An Arctic Convoys veteran has taken to sea once again to be honoured for his World War II heroics alongside his comrades.
Jack Sleigh was a young Tarves farmer when he enlisted in the Royal Navy on October 1942, aged 18, and was assigned to the HMS Anson.
As an able seaman he took part in the treacherous convoys, tasked with escorting vital supplies to Russia through the freezing waters of the Arctic Circle under constant threat of Nazi attack.
Now 92, Mr Sleigh was one of 42 veterans of the voyages recently honoured by the Consulate General of Russia on board the Royal Britannia in Leith for their role in the journeys.
The event marked 75 years since the first vessel left the West Coast of Scotland en route to Russia with supplies.
Yesterday Mr Sleigh said: “Looking back, I have a lot of good memories. I was always wanting home when I was out, now I’m home I am always wanting away.
“I kept up with about five or six blokes (from the navy) until about five or six years ago. Last Christmas Day none of them called me, because they are all dead. I’m the last one of them.”
Mr Sleigh was involved in patrolling the Norwegian coast for German vessels, and also served in Burma.
Among the gifts handed to the veterans was a 70-year-old “Arctic Convoy whisky”, which Mr Sleigh insists will remain unopened as a memento.
His son, Patrick Sleigh, attended the event with his father.
He said: “He was determined to go down. On the convoys it was just the luck of the draw if you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He met a lot of good people in the war. He used to keep up with them but he’s the last now. It was a great adventure for him.
It was quite an experience, but a lot of people didn’t come back as you know.”
Following the war Mr Sleigh bought some land in Oldmeldrum – where he still lives and which his family farms to this day.
