Jock Dempster

Jock Dempster, who has died aged 85, was a veteran of the Arctic Convoys from Scotland to Russia during the Second World War – a journey Churchill called the worst in the world – and endured the freezing, dangerous conditions several times. After the war, he believed the story of the convoys had been deliberately buried and campaigned vigorously for the veterans to be awarded a medal. Successive governments refused and it was only in the final days before his death that the battle was finally won when, along with other veterans, he was invited to Downing Street to be presented with the Arctic Star medal by David Cameron.

After so many years of campaigning, he was delighted a medal had finally been awarded (and despised Tony Blair for trying to fob the veterans off with a tie pin a few years before) but it was not the end of the fight for him. Every 10 years, the Russian Government awards medals to survivors of the convoys but the Foreign Office always refused permission for the veterans to wear them. Right up until he suffered a stroke, just days before his death, Mr Dempster was fighting that decision. It was typical of his single-mindedness.

He first demonstrated the quality as a boy in Montrose. Born Henry McIntosh Dempster, he lived in two rooms with his six brothers and sisters, his father – a labourer – and his mother, who died of cancer when he was eight. The young Jock would go down to the harbour and watch the boats from the Baltic coming in and decided a life at sea was for him. He asked the harbour master to teach him how to tie knots and at 15 left school to join the merchant navy.

After attending the navy's training school in Liverpool, he passed out as a junior ordinary seaman (with pay of £18 a month) and joined his first vessel, the tanker San Vernancio. Conditions were hard but he was happy. It was the first time he had ever had a bed to himself and it was also an opportunity to see the world; his first trip was to Philadelphia.

On the return to Gourock from the US in 1945, the crew of the Vernancio discovered their next destination was Murmansk on one of the Arctic Convoys, which already had a grim reputation. The convoys left from the Clyde or Loch Ewe and travelled north of Norway to deliver supplies to Russia. The temperature was rarely above freezing and there were constant attacks by U-boats. For Mr Dempster, the journey was double-edged as he was living the life he wanted. He would often do the so-called death shift from midnight until 4am and was allowed to take the wheel. "It was the proudest moment of my life when I took the wheel," he said, "and I've had a lot of proud moments."

On his first convoy there were constant gale force winds and the temperature was always below freezing (the crew had to be careful not to touch any surface with their bare hands as the ice would tear off the skin). "I got afraid a couple of times with the bad weather," he said. "You were frightened out of your bloody wits but you never told anybody." Even so, in the quieter moments he could also appreciate where he was and recalled one night in particular. "I remember I was on lookout," he said, "and all you could hear was the throb of the engine and it was eerie – the ships were clothed in ice. They were like ghost ships. In a way, they were beautiful."

The convoys travelled in long lines, following the tail lights of the ship in front, and were protected by smaller Royal Navy vessels. On his first trip, about 30 miles north of Murmansk, two ships were torpedoed along with HMS Lapwing, one of the navy's escort vessels. He remembered the carnage for the rest of his life: the screeching of metal and the screaming of the wounded and dying.

Finally, the Vernancio made it to Murmansk, where it spent nine weeks. The area was being bombed round the clock but Mr Dempster and his comrades still found time to defy orders not to fraternise with the Russians and learn the only Russian phrase a young member of the armed forces needs ("can I see you home tonight?"). The Vernancio then returned to Scotland.

In all, he did four trips along the route of the convoys and always believed in their vital strategic importance to victory against the Germans. Latterly, he was bitter about what he believed was a deliberate attempt by the West, in particular the Americans, to play down the role of the Russians and the convoys.

One consolation was the welcome the veterans, in their distinctive white berets, were always given in Russia. "From little children to the oldest person, they all know about the convoys," he said. "We're appreciated in Russia more than we are here – there's no doubt about it."

After the war, he stayed in the merchant navy and was on the first ship into Hong Kong after the Japanese surrender. He then joined the Royal Air Force and worked in intelligence in Berlin for 28 years before moving back to Dunbar to live with his family.

It was then, after joining the Russian Convoy Club, he became one of the leaders of the campaign to win a medal for the convoy veterans – a campaign finally won in March when the Prime Minister awarded the Arctic Star to Mr Dempster and 40 other veterans.

It was a hard-won victory, as he told Mr Cameron. "I said to him: I'm delighted with this but I'm not delighted for myself. I'm delighted for the families of the people who died in these convoys. They did exist. It did happen."

Mr Dempster married twice. He is survived by his wife Maggie and their daughter, three daughters by his first marriage, a step-daughter and grandchildren.