A Monmouth war veteran is to be awarded the Arctic Star, but insists he is no hero.

John Huckle (below) will be given the honour at St Mary's Church, Monmouth, in November after being persuaded to apply for it last year.

Mr Huckle, who lives in Wyesham, was featured in the Beacon last year recounting his experiences in the Antarctic but has just as vivid memories of his time in the Arctic.

He will 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," said Mr Huckle.

After training at HMS Collingwood he was drafted as an Ordinary Seaman to the battleship HMS King George V (pictured below), flagship of the home fleet.

Most of the time he was aboard, she lay at a buoy in Scapa Flow with only infrequent excursions with the fleet. Arguably these were made to be in a position to intercept enemy capital ships venturing out from hiding in Norwegian fjords to attack our convoys.

"I scrubbed out our mess deck and the passage outside, then checked our hammocks were properly stowed in a rack," said Mr Huckle.

"When 'Action Stations' was sounded on a daily basis I clambered down on the steel ladders to the magazine of a secondary gun linnet, safe behind a belt of thick armour plate protecting the vital part of the hull.

"I must have been a good scrubber because my next move was to Brighton to be trained to become an officer."

Thus the first phase of his naval career ended, and although he had adventures aplenty subsequently, none had any bearing on the award of the Arctic Star, which he is to receive on 1st November, after the annual commemorative service in St Mary's held by the Royal Naval Association to remember the 700 men lost when an earlier HMS Monmouth was sunk in the Battle of Coronel in 1914.

Mr Huckle said he was deeply indebted to the association for arranging this honour. He also hopes that this may highlight the activities of the organisation, some of which are seldom publicised.