Barack Obama, the US President Elect has acknowledged that military Veterans should be issued with a medal for service during the Cold War and said: “The Cold War was a period that required both skilled diplomacy and military readiness. For veterans who had to be prepared to fight a war that most people agreed would be catastrophic, there certainly should be some recognition of service and willingness to defend and go to battle for the United States”

Speaking about the process of ensuring recognition is achieved in the USA he continued: “In each of the past two years, the Cold War Victory Medal has passed the House as part of its version of the annual defense authorization bill but has been stymied by influential members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I agree that the Cold War Victory medal would be an appropriate honour and I certainly share the hope that this impasse can be broken soon.”

We ask the British Government to do likewise and rightly honour its Veterans of this period.