WW2 veteran receives medals 80 years late

A World War Two veteran has finally received his medals, nearly 80 years late.

Now 98 and living in Watchet, Somerset, George Lewis served with the Royal Tank Regiment from 1944 to 1947.

But he never received his medals, with Mr Lewis suggesting they may have been lost in the post.

Presented with the medals on Saturday afternoon, he said: "After all this time, to get those two medals, that was wonderful."

The journey towards Saturday's ceremony began when neighbour Valerie Norman contacted her brother, who served in the same regiment as Mr Lewis.

Her brother passed on the story to the Regimental Association, which provided the medals.

He was finally presented with the War Medal 1939-45 and the France and Germany Star at an event at the Royal British Legion Club in Watchet by the deputy lieutenant of Somerset Brigadier Richard Toomey.

Mr Lewis said: “It was a shock as much as anything. You imagine after all this time that they wouldn’t be able to find anything about you but they had a complete record.

“It seems like an awful lot of fuss to go to when what I did doesn’t seem like much, but it is nice to know that they respect what we did for people.”

Mr Lewis was signed up to serve in February 1944, one month after his 18th birthday, and was a commander of a tank, seeing action in Belgium, Holland and Germany.

He described how he and a friend would drive with a party of 10 to protect them while they dug a trench. In the evening, they would return to collect the injured.

His daughter, Liz Lewis, who lives with her father, said: "It means a lot to us because we've talked about it before, that he hasn't got his medals.

"We could never understand why he didn't have any medals, but we didn't do anything because he didn't know the answer himself.

"He'd just say, 'oh, they got lost in the post.'"

“I’m very pleased he is getting this recognition, he is really very honoured by all of this,” she added.