Veteran Gets Award...Nearly 60 Years After Winning It

Petty Officer Peter Williams with the award (Picture: Royal Navy).

A 90-year-old former sailor has received an award from the Royal Navy, 58 years after he won it.

Peter Williams was a Petty Officer and passed out as top of the class on a course for gunnery instructors held in Portsmouth 1960.

His achievements earned him a Herbert Lott Award - presented to sailors who were innovative or excelled in naval gunnery.

Although, he was never presented the award and 58 years on, Mr Williams has finally received his citation after perseverance from his family and the Royal Navy.

Mr Williams was born in Norfolk, grew up in Wales, joined the Royal Navy at the end of World War Two and was a part of Britain's last battleship, HMS Vanguard.  

However, Mr Williams ended up leaving the Royal Navy and Britain when he moved to Cape Town where he met his future wife.

He switched from the Royal to the South African Navy and was soon invited back to Portsmouth for a specialist course for gunnery instructors, where he earned a Herbett Lott Award.

Mr Williams reached the south-coast of England by a two-week boat journey, which he was nearly not allowed to do after senior officers in the South African Navy were reluctant to let him go after not passing the 'Afrikaans Test' - the test used to demonstrate basic knowledge of the language.

Neither the Royal or South African Navy informed Mr Williams of his accomplishment - it was not until his wife was looking through a military annual that she saw her husband's name next to the award. Mr Williams left the navy two years later.

Mr Williams' wife of 65 years, Sheila, passed away in April but she told her daughter Gayle Defranceski about the award he never received, and she started to investigate.

Mrs Defranceski got in contact with the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines Charity and Pat McCafferty who oversees the award in 2018.

The certificate was signed by today's Naval Secretary Rear Admiral Simon Williams and sent to Cape Town. 

Mr Williams' family held a party as he was finally handed the award.

Mrs Defranceski said: "I managed to get 25 people here without dad guessing anything. He was so surprised – and a little emotional. He’s just over the moon.

"Even to this day my dad reads every naval book and has even painted a few of the ships that he was on."