'Hero' veteran receives nuclear testing medal

Ken Harrison was presented with the medal in front of 80 friends and family members

A 87-year-old veteran who witnessed the UK's nuclear testing programme has been presented with a medal at a surprise ceremony.

Ken Harrison, from Matlock, Derbyshire, served in the Royal Engineers and was part of the Operation Grapple.

The Nuclear Test Medal has been released 70 years after the first test, and Downing Street agreed to its creation after years of campaigning.

Mr Harrison said he was "overwhelmed and gobsmacked" with the surprise ceremony on Sunday.

Mr Harrison says he thinks of his comrades who "never received his honour"

The Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire Elizabeth Fothergill CBE presented Mr Harrison with his medal at the Shirland Golf & Country Club.

The veteran, who remembers vividly the nuclear testing the testing of the British atomic and hydrogen bombs on Christmas Island in the late 1950s, said: "I just did my job what I was sent to do.

"Because it was 1958, a lot [of comrades] have since died and never received this honour, or recognition really, so I think of them."

He is not the only one to receive the award, however when his medal arrived in a Jiffy bag, his friends and family decided to host a surprise presentation to celebrate the occasion.

Ken Harrison, the fourth from the left, served in the Royal Engineers

His daughter, Hannah Gillway, said: “My dad is my absolute hero.

"Not only is he my hero but he’s this country’s hero as well.

"The things he had to do for this country are just brilliant and he does need recognition for it.”

Retired Royal Engineer Dave McDonnell said Mr Harrison, and others who served like him, deserved to have his medal presented "in the manner it should be presented".

This is the reason why, he says, they all decided "to do something special".

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