British Empire Medal recipient 'honoured'
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AN Inverness man has been honoured to celebrate 50 years of volunteering with the RAF Association.
John Maclean (83), who was born in Inverness but now lives in Peterhead and is chairman of the association’s branch in the town, has been giving up his time to help others since the end of his active service in the 1960s.
He also served in a number of senior roles in the organisation, and now his efforts have been recognised after he was awarded the British Empire Medal.
Mr Maclean said: "It’s nice to have your hard work recognised.
"I took out life membership when I was leaving the air force in 1966 and soon after I started volunteering with the association.
"It becomes like a big family. That’s the best way to explain it.
"The youngest person I helped was an eight-month-old baby who was having breathing problems. We helped sort out transport to and from the hospital and things like that. She has now graduated from university so it was really nice to see that.
"The medal is one of the highlights, but I think the friendship you get is the most important thing."
His family have spoken of their pride and say the award is richly deserved. Mr Maclean’s sister Marian Macdonald (75) added: "The whole family is very proud of him. He is a very quiet, unassuming person and you never hear him talking about how much he does. He just gets on with it. Our father was in the air force and was a member of the association.
"That’s how John got involved with it in the first place."
