Here's a brilliant article featuring our stalwart support Walter Stewart.
This how to do it! Tell'em as it is!
Great stuff, Walter.
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Thursday March 22, 2007
'They won't stop me wearing my medal'
By East Lothian Newsroom
A MUSSELBURGH pensioner who’s being given a medal by Malaysia for his part in a “forgotten” jungle conflict has vowed to ignore a British Government ban on wearing it.
Walter Stewart was one of 30,000 Commonwealth servicemen who fought in the 1962-1966 Borneo-Indonesian Conflict.
Grandfather Walter, now 68, was a corporal who supplied rations and artillery to Commonwealth forces with the Royal Army Ordinance Corps during a year-long stint in North Borneo.
The Malaysian government wants to award the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal to all Commonwealth servicemen who were based in the region between 1957 and 1966.
But Britain is not keen on its servicemen and women being given foreign medals.
In late 2005, Britain decided that its citizens could accept this medal – but they would not be allowed to wear it on parade.
This, said Walter, was “deeply insulting”.
Next month, Mr Stewart – who’s originally from East Linton – and other veterans of the conflict will travel to Perth to collect their medals from representatives of the Malaysian government.
He said: “It’s an insult to the Malaysians that we’re not allowed to wear this medal when we please but none of us veterans are serving in the British Army today so we don’t have to obey that order.
“Military law says we can’t wear them but we are civilians now and they can’t stop us. I’m going to wear it anyway.”
The veteran, from Stoneyhill Rise, has lived in Musselburgh since the 1970s, where he was a fireman before having to leave due to injury.
He also worked with the council and served in the Territorial Army for many years, only retiring from service a few years ago.
Before Borneo, he served with The Royal Scots in Berlin in the late 1950s.
Fred Burden of the Borneo and Malayan Veterans’ Association, of which Walter is a member, confirmed that there was restrictions on wearing the medal.
He said: “Veterans can wear the medal at functions if they wish but they are prohibited from displaying it whilst on parade.”
The Borneo-Indonesian conflict – known as one of several “forgotten jungle wars” in South East Asia in the 1950s and 1960s – was fought over the sovereignty of the island of Borneo.
Of the 30,000 men who fought in the conflict, around 500 British and Commonwealth soldiers died.
Mr Stewart, who spends time as a driver for handicap children, will receive his medal on his birthday.
“I never get any birthday presents so I’m really going to appreciate this medal,” he said.
(Copyright eastlothiancourier.com)
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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia
