finally received his medals -- 54 years on.

Arthur Colin Plant volunteered as an air mechanic to the Fleet Air Arm and served in the Atlantic and in Britain between 1939 and 1944 -- and this week, out of the blue, two medals arrived at his Somerset home.

Now Mr. Plant, 73, is the owner of the Defence Medal and the War Medal, both of which he will proudly wear at the Remembrance Day parade on November 11.

The retired airline worker had completely forgotten about the awards and was surprised to find them in his mail -- sent from the Armed Forces Personnel Administrative Agency (AFPAA) in Portsmouth, England.

Mr. Plant said he believed the medals were sent out automatically to those who served -- in the same way his father's decorations were posted after the First World War -- after hostilities ended.

"I had served so I was due medals, it was normal once you were discharged to give you everything you were due,'' he said.

"I wasn't concerned about them but my daughter thought I should have them.'' For over 50 years he never gave them a thought, until one day his daughter Janice persuaded him to sign forms requesting the awards be sent to their rightful owner.

That was in 1996, and again the Plant family forgot about them, until one day last week when the two shiny medals arrived at their Gwelly Lane home.

And inside the package was a letter from the medal office, apologising for the two year delay in sending the medals.

Mr. Plant believes the delay in sending his dues maybe, in part, because his records were lost when a ship he was sailing on in the Atlantic caught fire.

He also believes the missing time from his war record may also have meant that he missed out on extra medals from the conflict, but for now he is content with the two he recieved.

The AFPAA said the missing section of Mr. Plant's war record could have contributed to the delay in sending the medals, but they added that all medals had to be applied for.