Malaya war veteran receives medal 70 years after National Service

A war veteran who was sent to Malaya in 1949 has finally received his military campaign medal - in time for his 90th birthday.

The Malayan Emergency, as it became known, was a bitter conflict against communist extremists.

Norton Breen spent two years fighting with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

His brother Keith also served in Malaya, but only one of them received a medal on their return to the North East.

Norton has lived in Bedworth, Warwickshire, since the mid-1960s, and his family enlisted the help of a veterans' group on Facebook to apply for the medal, which arrived during lockdown last month.

Video journalist: John Bray