Arctic Convoys veteran

Born: August 1, 1924;

Died: August 22, 2017

ALEXANDER Manson, known as Sandy, who has died aged 93, was part of the dwindling group of servicemen who have been more honoured by a key ally in the long fight against Nazism than by our own British Government.

For Sandy Manson served on board a Royal Navy destroyer that provided key support in 1943 and 1944 to seamen of the British Merchant Navy supplying – against all the odds – vital war-equipment to aid the Soviet Union in its battle against the Germans. Winston Churchill described the hazardous Arctic Convoy route to the Northern Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangelsk as the most dangerous journey in the world.

The conditions were horrendous. Sailors, including Sandy Manson, braved mountainous seas, thick fogs, pack-ice and freezing salt-spray in the near-constant winter darkness. And all the while, the vessels appeared to be sitting ducks for attacks by the Luftwaffe, surface-warships and U-boats from air and sea bases in Nazi-occupied Norway.

Sandy Manson's Arctic Convoy service was as one of the 190-strong complement on the Clyde-built speedy destroyer HMS Matchless. She sailed on successive missions as escort to armaments-carrying merchant vessels, the convoys often assembling at Loch Ewe or Scapa Flow in Scotland. On occasions they also linked up with ships from America near Reykjavík, Iceland. Here was practical proof of the English-speaking allies' positive support for the Soviet Union's Red Army soldiers in their fight against the invaders.

Mr Manson signed up in 1941 at aged 17 for service in the Royal Navy and, after initial training, he was posted to HMS Matchless and served on board escorting Arctic convoys until late 1944.

In 2012, the Russian Federation applied to the British Government for consent to bestow the prestigious Ushakov Medal to honour the courage and bravery of sailors who had served in the convoys.

Initially this was refused, but it prompted a re-think on the long campaign by The Arctic Convoy Veterans Association for official recognition of their role by the British Government.

In late 2012 The Queen approved the design for the Arctic Star medals after then Prime Minister David Cameron decided to belatedly award the decoration, which Sandy Manson received in early 2013.

In late 2014 he was one of a small group of Arctic Convoy veterans presented with the Ushakov medal by Russia's Consul General in Scotland Andrei Ptitsepov at a ceremony in Inverness Town House.

After schooling at the now closed John O'Groats Primary and Wick High, Mr Manson did some joinery training and was able to make and fit doors and windows prior to volunteering for the Royal Navy.

His war ended in the Far East where he was one of the first group of Royal Navy sailors ashore in Tokyo, Japan, after that country's surrender, before being demobbed in Hong Kong.

In the immediate post-war era, he worked first in Hall Russell's Aberdeen shipyard and then on constructing the hydro-electric power stations in the Highlands.

The Rev John MacPhee told the packed 400-strong group of mourners at the funeral service in Canisbay Kirk that Mr Manson had started doing light jobs in the Post Office from the age of eight.

His family had a long link with the Post Office. His grandfather George Manson established the Duncansby Post Office in 1892 and was a noted Far North tourism pioneer, publishing local view postcards and stocking small bone-china souvenirs.

A new Post Office building was erected in 1961, largely under Mr Manson's direction, alongside the main Wick road, then named the A9, with Mr Manson becoming postmaster on his mother's retirement in 1963, while also running its adjoining convenience shop with the help of his young wife Nellie (nee MacGregor), whom he married in 1958.

At that time there were ten post offices in Scotland's two most northerly rural parishes of Canisbay and Dunnet as well as several small 'shoppies' and travelling grocery vans visiting local croft and farmhouses. Now John O'Groats is the sole remaining one and the busy establishment is run by Mr Manson's daughter, Fiona Harper. Many visitors want the 'John O'Groats' post-mark on their cards and letters and this contributes to its trade.

Mr Manson was one of a family of six and himself leaves a family of six as well as his widow Nellie: Fiona, Lorna, Hugh, Susan, Sandra and Alex. He is also survived by his 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mr Manson was a keen amateur local historian and he found himself frequently answering genealogy queries from visitors whose ancestors had emigrated from the Far North.

BILL MOWAT