RAF hero receiving medical care at dwelling as he fights MoD for medal

On Oct 25, 2024

The last hero of Operation Bagpipes is fighting against the prospect of Remembrance Sunday without the honour he has waited 70 years for.

Squadron Leader ‘Pete’ Peters is now receiving supportive care at home, three months after he launched a last battle for his comrades to receive the nuclear test medal.

“There are only 17 days left until Remembrance and right this terrible wrong,” he said. “They can do it quick enough if they bloody well want to. I am asking not for myself but on behalf of those who died.

“But if they don’t hurry it up, there’ll be no-one left to remember what it was for.”

Sqn Ldr Peters has survived cancer, but has a serious lung condition after years of high-altitude flying and needs oxygen to breathe
(
Philip Coburn)

The nuclear test medal was awarded to veterans of Britain’s nuclear testing in 2023 after a five-year campaign by the Mirror, which has fought for recognition of these forgotten veterans since the 1980s.

But in a petty move by the Ministry of Defence that was blamed on a ‘Tory turf war’ between ministers, it intentionally left out hundreds of men who flew horrifying missions through the mushroom clouds of other nations.

Pete, 92, of Lakenheath, is the last man standing from a small unit despatched to fly sorties through a series of massive American H-bombs.

It was codenamed Operation Bagpipes, and was illegal at the time as the US had legislated to keep its nuclear secrets to itself.

Pete Peters’ map, with a blue circle showing where his comrades’ bomber disappeared. The search was hampered by official refusal to tell rescuers where it had been headed, or why, and the crew’s remains were never found

Pete Peters took this photograph as the stricken WH697, stripped of usable parts, was towed out over the reef to be sunk

But only the RAF had the planes able to fly high enough to take samples, and four Canberra bombers from 1323 Flight and 540 Squadron were sent to Bikini in the Pacific.

One disappeared in a thunderstorm and its crew never found. Another crash landed, but had to be towed out to sea and sunk so no-one knew the RAF was involved.

All of Pete’s comrades have died from cancer, which he alone managed to survive. He now has degenerative lung disease, and increasingly relies on oxygen to breathe. Blood tests that were taken from him during the weapons programme have gone missing from his medical file.

His son Gareth said: “My father took extreme risks in service of his country and the man in charge of our bomb programme confirmed, in writing, that the samples collected helped create our own nuclear deterrent.

“That these men were left out first time around is bad enough, but if they fail to get medal to my father in time for him to wear it at the village remembrance service it will be an insult to him and his comrades.”

Archive documents show William Penney, the ‘father of the bomb’, thought the samples of Operation Bagpipes were critical to the British H-bomb

The MoD has been given information that at least seven other squadrons of Canberras, Valiants, Vulcans and Hastings aircraft flew similar risky missions. They entered the mushroom clouds of French, Chinese, and Soviet weapons tests to gather intelligence vital to our own weapons programme, as well as to assess those of other nations.

After we reported Sqn Ldr Peters’ astonishing story, Defence Secretary John Healey ordered a review of the medal criteria, as he had promised in Opposition.

But although the veteran’s MP and others have repeatedly asked about the date of any decision, Labour has refused to give one, saying only that it is under review.

Instead, Veterans Minister Al Carns told Parliament last week he is consulting the Foreign Office and Cabinet Office, with a decision needing to be approved by the honours committee and His Majesty the King.

Sqn Ldr Peters has even been written to by the Defence Services Secretary, the top military liaison between the King and government, but was disappointed when again no date for a decision was given.

Remembrance Sunday this year falls on November 10 – just 17 days away.