A north-east war veteran was caught off-guard when a Russian consul appeared at his front door to honour his efforts from 70 years ago.
Farmer Jack Sleigh left his family’s land in Tarves and enlisted in the Royal Navy in October 1942, aged 18, and was assigned to the HMS Anson.
The vessel was involved in the treacherous Arctic Convoys, and as an able-bodied seaman he was part of a crew helping escort vital supplies to Russia, and also patrolled the Norway coast for Nazi navy vessels.
When the war came to an end Mr Sleigh bought a spot of land near Oldmeldrum – where he still lives and which his family farm to this day.
The 91-year-old was surprised last week when a member of the Russian embassy in Edinburgh came to his door and offered him a watch to commemorate his role in the convoys.
Mr Sleigh – who also received the Ustinov medal last year – added: “It was very good of them. I have never seen one that looks like it before. It will be homemade.
“It looks pretty. How good they make watches in Russia I don’t know, if they make watches like they make cars I won’t use it too much.”
His World War II service was only broken when he had to return briefly for the hairst before returning to active duty.
The great-grandfather added: “I was helping my father on the farm and the age group had dropped down to 18 and I went down to volunteer at Woolmanhill.
“We went up to the Arctic Circle protecting convoys. One of the times we went up you wouldn’t believe the amount of ships in the fleet, I counted 82 of our ships and it was all British Navy escorting six carriers.”
He recalled spending days hacking ice off of the ship’s deck – where in temperatures as low as -30C it would often accumulate in layers 16in thick.
Mr Sleigh said: “The sea got rough up there. Even on a big ship like that it was amazing the damage the sea could inflict on when it was a heavy sea.
“It wasn’t all fine and comfortable but it wasn’t all that bad. It was a change for a farm worker. The bad weather was something out of this world.”
HMS Anson momento
In Jack Sleigh’s back garden lies a memento of his time on the HMS Anson – a bench made of teak from the quarterdeck of the warship.
As well as the Anson, Mr Sleigh served on board the HMS Duncan, the HMS Pennywort and the HMS Taff and was involved in patrols along the Burma coast behind enemy lines.
The HMS Anson assisted a total of nine Russian convoys between 1942 and 1943, sailing along the treacherous coast of German-occupied Norway, where Nazi warships loomed around every fjord.
In total, 3,000 Royal Navy and Merchant Navy sailors died on the convoys and 101 ships were sunk.
However, their courage contributed to the delivery of more than four million tonnes of cargo, including 5,000 tanks, 7,000 planes, fuel, medicine and raw materials.
A total of 78 convoys launched between August 1941 and May 1945.
The supplies they carried played a vital role in Russian forces defeating the Germans on the Eastern Front, which led to the collapse of the Third Reich and the Allied victory.