Shropshire war convoys veteran dies at the age of 97

Roy Walker served on the battleship HMS Duke of York and later was employed by the MoD at Donnington. He died peacefully at Doddington Lodge, near Cleobury Mortimer. A ceremony will be held at Shrewsbury crematorium at 12.30pm on April 4.

The decision to create and issue a new Arctic Star medal came following a long campaign to have the heroes of the convoys recognised, and the first medals were awarded in 2013.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1918, Mr Walker's family moved to Shifnal when he was 17 and he became a ship chain maker along with his father at Edge and Sons, before volunteering for service. His first voyage on HMS Duke of York was when the ship took Winston Churchill to America to meet President Roosevelt in 1941.

After that HMS Duke of York joined the Arctic convoys, and in December 1943 was central to the action in which the German battleship Scharnhorst was intercepted and sunk in the Battle of the North Cape.

During shore leave in the Firth of Forth, Mr Walker married sweetheart Sarah Emily Stevenson, who had travelled up from Shifnal to Edinburgh especially.

Mr Walker trained as an electrician on the battleship and went on to work for the Midlands Electricity Board after the war. He settled at Horton, near Wellington, then later at West Avenue in Donnington. He went to work for the MoD at Donnington in 1956, where he stayed until his retirement. He then lived in Market Drayton.

He was widowed in 1991, and he went to live in Doddington Lodge, between Clee Hill and Cleobury Mortimer, in 2012.

Son Bill recalled: "At the end of the war he was on duty in the Mediterranean. A team of electricians were dropped at Marseilles at the end of hostilities to repair damage. They were not needed as a team of French were in place. Consequently, he was privileged to have a bit of a holiday in the south of France complements of the navy. Of the ship's complement, his name was fourth to be called for demob."