A FORMER crew member of HMS Ledbury had a proud day, when he knocked on the door of 10, Downing Street to receive a long-awaited campaign medal from the Prime Minister.

On Tuesday, October 21, Royal Navy veteran Ian McVitie was one of 20 ex-servicemen from the Falklands campaign to be presented with the South Atlantic Medal by David Cameron.

Mr McVitie said: "It was absolutely amazing. It seemed unreal, having to actually knock on the door of 10, Downing Street.

"David Cameron said, 'congratulations for the medal - it's well-deserved', and he said sorry it had taken so long for us to receive it."

Mr McVitie will now get to wear his medal with pride, following a 32 year battle for recognition that he too served in the conflict.

But danger for Mr McVitie came not from Argentinian bullets but live Argentinian mines, which he helped to clear just after the official close of hostilities.

Mr McVitie was a 21 year Radio Operator, First Class, when he was sent to the South Atlantic, on board the minesweeper, HMS Ledbury.

The ship had to destroy six mines and locate and mark the wrecks of HMS Ardent, Antelope and Coventry, in what Mr McVitie, now aged 54, described as "a dangerous time".

Since then, Mr McVitie has fought a campaign, alongside another former sailor, Nigel Morris, who served on HMS Diomede, which will now lead to medals for around 10,000 other forces veterans from the same campaign.

These are the men and woman who entered the campaign just after the cease fire. As such, they are now entitled to wear the campaign medal, but without the rosette, which indicates active service.

Mr McVitie said: "No everyone agrees we should have the medal, and I do hold the ones who have the rosette in the highest esteem. Their bravery was second to none.

"But this isn't about them. This is about us. They have had 32 years to wear their medals with pride. This is our time."

Mr McVitie, who only retired from the Navy in 2004 and served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf, always believed it was an oversight that the South Atlantic Medal, Without Rosette, was not awarded to Falklands veterans like himself at the time.

The medal will now go to veterans who served in the Falklands campaign up to October 21, 1982, just before HMS Illustrious sailed away, and the islands were considered defensible on their own.

Mr McVitie, aged 54, who has recently fought a battle with stomach cancer, said: "It has been an honour and a privilege representing so many thousands of veterans."

The veteran was part of a naval visit to Ledbury just after the Falklands War, in 1983.