A NATIONAL Service veteran has finally been honoured with a medal for serving in Suez - 51 years after he left the RAF.

Ken Whitfield, 71, of Grosvenor Terrace, York, received the general service medal, complete with a commemorative "clasp", this week after the Queen finally gave Royal Assent to the honours in October.

Campaign medals are not normally given more than five years after a conflict, but in June, Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged the "special features" of the 1951-1954 emergency, which claimed 300 lives and preceded the Suez Crisis of 1956.

Mr Whitfield, who is vice-chairman of the York Branch of the Royal Air Forces Association, based in Aldwark, completed his National Service between 1950 and 1952, working as a leading aircraftsman in Egypt.

He told the Evening Press: "At the time, we didn't really think about the lack of recognition until we came back because we were only 18 and 20-year-olds. There has been a long campaign by certain people for this recognition.

"It is a little bit late in the day, but I am very proud. Unfortunately, there are not too many of us left to receive them."

The Suez emergency began in 1951 when the Egyptian government unilaterally overturned a 1936 treaty with Britain governing the number of UK troops in the canal zone, triggering an anti-British guerrilla campaign.

Although General Sir Brian Robertson, Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Land Forces at the time, made a request for medals to be issued in 1952, it is believed the case was never fully considered and no formal conclusion reached. MPs and conflict veterans have since campaigned for the best part of 50 years to see the contribution of some the 200,000 soldiers who served in Suez to be officially recognised.

Updated: 10:46 Monday, December 08, 2003