HE DEDICATED his life to campaigning for Hull's seamen to be recognised for the crucial role they played during the Second World War.
But George Barker lost his final battle the day after he was presented with a military honour from Russian president Vladimir Putin for his part in the Arctic Convoys. He was just two days away from his 90th birthday.
It was a fitting end for a man who had refused to give up until the sacrifice and courage of the men from Hull who set sail on what Sir Winston Churchill would later call "the worst journey in the world" was acknowledged.
As he lay dying, his friend and fellow campaigner Bob Reeves, chairman of the Hull branch of the Royal Navy Association, presented him with the Ushakov Medal and a letter from Mr Putin in front of Mr Barker's family.
"It almost broke me in two, giving it to him," said Mr Reeves. "It was so emotional.
"We all had a glass of champagne and George had one, too. But he washed it down with a whisky and water.
"It just seemed as if he was waiting for that because he started to go downhill very quickly after the presentation."
Mr Barker was just 17 when he joined the Navy in 1942, joining HMS Fencer, an escort aircraft carrier.
Years later, he told the Mail: "I didn't even shave. At that age, it was an adventure. You didn't know what you were letting yourself in for."
Mr Barker initially went on Atlantic convoys, collecting vital supplies and troops from US allies, before Fencer escorted Merchant Navy convoys supplying the Red Army in Russia past Nazi-occupied Norway from 1943.
He could only snatch minutes of sleep for days on end while enemy aircraft circled overhead and recalled how the sky would fill with gunfire and explosions, watching helplessly as sailors, covered in oil, clung to rafts in the icy seas. It was so cold, men lost fingers and hands if they touched the freezing surface of their ships.
In 1944, Mr Barker and his squadron were transferred to HMS Furious to take out the Tirpitz, the pride of the German Navy and one of the biggest threats to the Allies. Forty bombers, including a squadron from Furious, hit her in the Norwegian Altenfiord.
Returning to Britain in the final months of the war, Mr Barker, then 21, was based in Prestwick in Scotland, where he met wife Betty, then 18. He was demobbed a few weeks early, to save him being sent to the Far East as the war with Japan continued and the couple moved to Hull.
But he never gave up his fight to have the bravery of the men of the Russian Convoys recognised by world powers.
His unshakeable determination saw the Government finally buckle to mounting pressure by announcing veterans of the hazardous voyages to Russia would get the newly created Arctic Star medal.
But Mr Barker continued fighting after Whitehall refused a formal request by the Kremlin to bestow the Ushakov Medal on the veterans. Prime Minister David Cameron intervened as fury intensified, forcing a government U-turn last year.
It was this medal Mr Barker finally received, 70 years after the treacherous journeys, at the end of his life.
With his friend's health deteriorating rapidly, Mr Reeves contacted the Russian Embassy in London and arranged for Mr Barker's grandson Chris to collect the medal and bring it home to Hull.
Mr Reeves presented it to him in front of Mr Barker's family, gathered by his bedside.
"I was absolutely delighted that we get the medal to him at the very last minute," he said. "It took a lot of effort, particularly on the family's part, but we did it.
"He was so active, right to the end when he had to stay in his bed. He was very instrumental in the Russian Convoy Club and he was vice-chairman of the Royal Navy Association. He did a lot with Reckitt's.
"He was a steady hand and an absolute gentleman."
But behind the public campaign to honour the men of the convoys was a man who loved his wife, two children Linda and Michael and three grandchildren Nick, Chris and Matt.
Hundreds of people gathered this week at Chanterlands Crematorium for Mr Barker's funeral. Ten standard bearers from military organisations attended, along with family and friends from all over the country.
George Barker was never one to dwell on his wartime experience. He would not allow anyone to forget how men from Hull had played such a vital role in bringing down the Nazis.
He once told the Mail: "For God's sake, don't go making me out to be a hero.
"If I was a hero, then there were thousands of them. If I had dived into the sea and rescued six sailors, call me a hero. But that never happened.
"I just did the job I was supposed to do."
