§ 5. Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)How he will ensure that all Suez veterans are awarded their medals. [143772]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin)I said to the House on 8 September that I expected some Suez medals to be with veterans for Remembrance Sunday. Nine hundred such medals were sent to veterans directly—as are all medals following their application and approval. I can now further update the House. As at 12 December, the medal offices had received 27,192 applications, and 2,011 Suez medals have so far been dispatched to veterans or their next of kin.
§ Huw Irranca-DaviesI thank my hon. Friend for that full answer. The steady uptake in the collection of the 1307 awards is testimony to the fact that no longer can Suez veterans be referred to as the forgotten army. Has he any estimate of how many people may be entitled to claim a medal for their work and for the ultimate sacrifice that many made in the campaign?
§ Mr. CaplinI thank my hon. Friend for his comments. The estimate of the possible number of veterans who can qualify is about 200,000 consisting of 25,000 from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, 55,000 from the RAF and 120,000 from the Army. In reality, it is unlikely that anywhere near that number of applications will be made, and certainly not in the short term. However, to cope with the applications that are expected, we have set up a special medal office at the Army medal office at Droitwich to deal with the applications.