Sitting proudly with a Royal Navy hat, certificates, photographs and diaries, Jacqui Linning is certain she wouldn’t have dug out her father’s wartime memorabilia had it not been for the Mercury’s Arctic medal campaign.

After reading of John Franis’s battle for recognition for those who undertook the hellish convoy missions to Russia, she was driven to root around in her attic to see what she could find out about her late father, John Fisher.

What Mrs Linning retrieved brought tears of to her eyes. And the emotions the objects have sparked have led to one clear message:

“I would like a medal for him,” she said.

Like John Francis, Mrs Linning is appalled the British government has not recognised those who took part in the Arctic convoys of supplies to Russia.

Mrs Linning’s father, John Fisher was a commercial artist from Croyden who was enlisted to the Royal Navy as a gunner on Tuesday, April 16, 1940.

The discovery of his enlistment notice confirms the date. It was meticulously kept along with scores of other documents in the loft of her Strand Street home in Sandwich.

The papers show that Mr Fisher served aboard the 38,000 ton King George V battleship. It is this vessel that is renowned for sinking the Bismarck on Tuesday, May 27 1941.

As well as taking part in battle and other strategic operations, the ship, known as the KG V, escorted convoys to and from Russia in fierce and blisteringly cold conditions between December 1942 and March 1943.

A pristine photograph album with pictures of the ship, shows the icy conditions the crew endured.

“My father never spoke about the convoys but he always hated the Germans,” said Mrs Linning.

The album also shows pictures of Winston Churchill’s visit on to the battleship when he brought his wife Clementine and their daughter Sarah.

Inscriptions below the images nicknamed the prime minister as Winnie. Another image shows King George VI with the ship’s commander, Jack Tovey.

Mr Fisher’s diary is another rich historical resource where he briefly lists world events as well as more personal happenings.

“He was in Australia when I was born in Edinburgh,” Mrs Linning added. And a certificate shows he was at the equator six days before her birth on January 24, 1945.

Subsequently he did not see her for about 11 months. But true to his character, an entry in the diary for December 29, 1945 says he could cuddle his darling (his wife Peggy) after 14 months and he finally caught sight of Jacqui, his “wee chip”.

After the war, when Mrs Linning was about two years-old, Mr Fisher caught polio and was confined to a wheelchair, cutting short his many sporty pursuits.

“It was so sad that he had gone all the way through the war and he was struck down like that,” she said.

Mrs Linning and her husband Richard do not have children to pass their memorabilia on to so they are considering a possible home for it when the time comes.

She suggested the Imperial War Museum as the place to make the most use of it.