Sign up to support veterans of Malaya (From This is Hampshire)

Sign up to support veterans of Malaya

4:41pm Monday 27th April 2009 in

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TODAY the Daily Echo gives you the chance to lend your support to Hampshire veterans who are appealing for recognition for their service.

They hope that by collecting as many signatures as possible on a petition they will persuade the Government to award them each a silver rosette to be attached to their General Service Medals.

The former soldiers all served with The Royal Hampshire Regiment – known as The Tigers – in the jungles of Malaya more than 50 years ago.

They helped to defeat Communist terrorists who wanted to seize control of the former British colony during the conflict that claimed 510 British soldiers’ lives, known as The Malayan Emergency.

While the British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought against the Communists after Malaya gained independence in 1957 have each been given a Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal by the Malaysian government, no such honour has been bestowed upon those veterans who served before. Around 1,500 soldiers from the Hampshire Regiment spent two and a half years in Malaya after sailing from Southampton in December 1953.

Surviving soldiers from the regiment, alongside those from other regiments nationwide who fought in the conflict, are now collecting as many signatures as possible. The petition will be presented to the government in August.

Organiser Tony Hamilton, 73, who was sent to the Selangor jungle as a lead scout, said: “There were a lot of men fighting in Malaya from more than a hundred regiments and many were on national service.

We want recognition for what we did and need as many signatures as possible to show people’s support.”

During a special service at Winchester Cathedral he unveiled a commemorative plaque dedicated to the members of the Royal Hampshire Regiment who served in Malaya from 1954-56 and in Borneo in 1966.

To add your name to the petition, email Clare Kennedy with your name, address and any comment.