A Monmouth man given the Arctic Star only last month has died at his home in Wyesham.

Ordinary Seaman John Huckle was drafted to the battleship HMS King George V, flagship of the Home Fleet based at Scapa Flow, and deployed to counter German capital ships poised to threaten the Arctic convoys – it is for this early period he was awarded the Arctic Star at a recent service to commemorate HMS Monmouth.

Following officer training, he was appointed Anti- Submarine Control Officer of HMS Calder. The ship was credited with the destruction of U1051 off Anglesey in January 1945 for which John was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and, later, U774 off south west Ireland which earned him a Bar to the DSC.

He remained aboard HMS Calder for 20 months.

He transferred to the Submarine Service in 1945 and served in HM Submarines Vulpine and Springer, ending his wartime naval service in September 1946.

In October 1946 he sailed from Tilbury to spend three years with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in Antarctica as an Assistant Surveyor. He took two major sledge journeys down the King George VI Sound and assisted in a variety of survey work for which he was awarded the Polar Medal. Mount Huckle in the Douglas Range on Alexander Island is named after him.

John was sent to Port Lockroy in January 1947 as the Governor of the Falkland Islands' aide de camp.

His voyage was supposed to last a month, but thanks to a fire at one base and a tsunami wrecking another hut, he spent three years in the Antarctic with only a Falkland Islander and a dog for company.

While at Port Lockroy, Mr Huckle made history by making the first official protest against Argentinian involvement near British territory.

Interviewed on a number of occasions by the Beacon, Mr Huckle said he would never forget the day he joined the Royal Navy in 1941; "When the Japanese heard I had become a member of our Armed Forces, they retaliated the next day by bombing Pearl Harbour."

John Huckle SR DSC & Bar, Arctic Star and Polar Star, died on 9th December 2013 aged 89 at his home in Monmouth.

His funeral will take place on Monday 23rd December at the Forest of Dean Crematorium at 11.30am.