TREVOR FIGHTS ON FOR THE 'FORGOTTEN ARMY'

22:00 - 24 August 2005

A war veteran from Wellington who served in one of Britain's "forgotten wars" is spearheading a push to see its servicemen honoured. Trevor Morgan of Lower Foxmoor Road in Rockwell Green is calling on the British Government to accept a medal for troops who fought in the Malaya Emergency.

Around 100,000 troops served in the conflict between 1948 and 1960 which claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers and led to the emergence of the independent democratic nation of Malaya.

But Mr Morgan is angry that the troops' bravery is in danger of being overlooked owing to the British authorities' refusal to accept the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal from the Malaysian Government.

Eligible veterans should have already received the Malaya Bar to the General Service Medal, but the law states that all British citizens require permission from the Government to accept and wear foreign state awards.

Important

The Government says a foreign award cannot be accepted if a British award has been given for the same service.

Yet veterans in Australia and New Zealand, who joined British troops in the conflict, have already received the medals after the Queen gave the go-ahead.

Now Mr Morgan, a member of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans' Association, has written to Iain Pearson, minister for trade and foreign affairs, to review UK policy.

Since his letter a motion has been tabled in the Commons demanding the Government accepts a special commemorative medal for those who fought in the Far East. And the Malaysian High Commission in London has said it is liaising with the Foreign Office to resolve the matter.

Mr Morgan told the WWN: "It seems important to the Malaysian Government to offer it and it seems strange that the British Government should stand between the Malaysian Government and the British people."

Mr Morgan, who served in south-east Asia in the Royal Navy during the Indonesian Confrontation of 1962 to 1966, said he and other veterans of Britain's "small wars" felt like they were becoming a forgotten army.

"I am not a great one for medals, " said Mr Morgan. "But I think it is nasty when a Government prevents its citizens getting recognition while at the same time it is prepared to put its citizens in harm's way."

He added: "For those who were out there it was pretty awful. Some of the things I heard of what happened to those who got caught were not at all fun."