THE brother of two Blackburn airmen killed while serving with Bomber Command in the Second World War has hit out at the ‘total injustice’ that one has been refused the newly presented campaign clasp from the Ministry of Defence.

Ken Robinson, of Penshaw Avenue, Blackburn, was only six years old when he saw his two older brothers, Fred Vasey and James Edward leave for war, to serve with the RAF.

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James, a sergeant flight engineer, was only 19, when his Halifax bomber came down in a farmer’s field in Wetherby on a training flight in August 1944.

All seven crew, including five Canadians, lost their lives.

Fred, who was a pilot officer, had survived 25 bombing raids over Germany, before his plane was brought down over the Ruhr in February 1945.

His Halifax crashed on to the banks of the Rhine and his body has never been found.

For the past 70 years Ken has kept alive their memory and sacrifice, so when the MoD announced that campaign clasps were to be belatedly given to the men of Bomber Command, he applied for both of his elder brothers.

But he was then horrified to learn that James did not qualify.

In a letter, the ministry’s medal office told him: “ Your late brother, James Edward does not qualify as his service was not with an operational Bomber Command Squadron, when he was sadly killed in ‘active service’.

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Ken said: “ I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. It’s a total injustice.

“He died for his country, was willing to serve, despite being only 19 years old, and the authorities will not recognise his sacrifice.

“My disbelief is that my brother’s death appears to mean nothing at all - along with the other six crew men in the plane.

“Were they or were they not in RAF Bomber Command? What price do you put on a life?”

Ken, who wears his brothers’ service medals with pride on Armistice Day, wore Fred’s new campaign medal for the first time on Remembrance Day this month.

But he said he was disgusted by the quality of the medal after it fell apart.

“The clasp had come away from the ribbon and was lost, talk about adding insult to injury.

“Does this country value its heroes at all?”

Ken’s older sister Brenda Conboye, who lives in Whitley Bay, added her disgust.

Now 84, she said: I am totally flabbergasted, angry and in total disbelief that the powers that be have failed to accept that Jim and his Canadian crew are not entitled to receive this RAF badge of honour. I have been in tears over this.”

Ken now intends to contact Blackburn MP Jack Straw in a bid to overturn the decision.

“I shall tell him in no uncertain terms how pettishly insensitive the authorities have been in establishing this qualifying criteria.”

The meadow where James’ plane crashed is today part of Wetherby Golf Course and a memorial to the two men from the RAF and the five crews of the Royal Canadian Air Force - a plaque set within a large granite boulder - has been erected by club members.

Ken and three generations of his family laid a wreath earlier this year, to mark the 70th anniversary of the fatal crash.

Fred is today still listed as ‘missing in action’ and his name is etched on the Runnymead memorial near Windsor.