A NAVY veteran is to finally get a medal from Russia for his courageous wartime service more than 70 years ago in convoys transporting supplies across hazardous Arctic circle seas.

Able Seaman Ronald Hoyle was among Royal Navy servicemen posted aboard merchant ships as they picked their way through subzero Arctic conditions during the Second World War, periodically coming under attack from enemy aircraft and Nazi U-boats.

The ships – carrying supplies such as food and arms to the Soviet Union in the early 1940s – were escorted by navy vessels, but were also required to defend themselves, if needs be.

Mr Hoyle, originally from Bradford, was one of the gunners posted aboard merchant ships during these convoys, part of a three-man team who each took their turn on watch.

More than 80 merchant ships were lost and 16 Royal Navy ships sunk.

Although some British servicemen received recognition in the form of the Medal of Ushakov, a state decoration of the Russian Federation, political relations have stood in the way of others receiving recognition for their wartime efforts.

Russian Federation embassy officials in London took applications in 2013, and a list of more than 3,000 veterans was subsequently sent to Moscow.

Now aged 92 and living in Ilkley, Mr Hoyle recently heard his medal was available to collect, but poor health has prevented him making the trip.

He approached Ilkley ward councillor, Anne Hawkesworth, who has volunteered to pick up the medal for him.

A delighted Mr Hoyle can still recall those dangerous voyages.

"The weather was absolutely disastrous," he said. "You could be out there and it was 40 degrees below.

"We were going the shortest route, but it was also a dangerous route. Germany occupied Norway, and it was possible for them to get aircraft onto the convoy route and, of course, there were also U-boats."

Although wrapped up in many layers of warm clothing, those aboard the ships could not escape the bitter cold.

Mr Hoyle served aboard three ships in the campaign, and during his Navy service, he sailed to Canada, South America, Africa, the Mediterranean and India.