HE was a “quiet and helpful lad” from Southampton whose young life was cut short during a horrifying insurgency in a distant land.

But now the sacrifice of 21-year-old John Tipler during the Malayan conflict has been formally recognised 50 years on – with the honour of an Elizabeth Cross.

The prestigious medal was presented to John’s only sister, Cynthia Robins, by the Queen’s representative, Lord Lieutenant Dame Mary Fagan, during a special ceremony yesterday.

Cynthia, 79, said: “I am very pleased. It is important that anyone who served should have the recognition.

“At least I have got a feeling that he lived and was not just another number.”

The medal was introduced in July last year to mark the loss felt by families of personnel killed in conflict.

Many of the conflict’s veterans and their families have long felt the Malayan campaign was “a forgotten war”.

John served as a medical orderly with the 1st Battalion, The Cameronians, a unit of the 26th Gurkha Regiment.

Cynthia, from Midanbury, Southampton, said: “He used to write letters back describing the horrors he saw. It was pretty grim.”

The letters detailed a tense jungle conflict where soldiers were in constantly on edge, fearing ambush amid dense foliage.

It was on October 11 1950 that John’s mother received the telegram stating that her “pleasant and enthusiastic son” had been killed.

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Cynthia, then just 19, was sleeping after a nursing night shift at the Royal South Hants Hospital when she was woken with the sad news that her only sibling was dead. “It was devastating,” she said.

It transpired a comrade of John’s shot him in the thigh by mistake while on a jungle patrol. And since he was the only medic, no one could stem the blood loss and save his life.

John, from Bitterne, was buried in Kranji Military Cemetery, in Pasir Panjang, Singapore.

His family repatriated his remains to the UK on February 4, 1975 and his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Remembrance of the Church of Ascension, in Bitterne Park – where he sang as a choir boy.

Yesterday’s ceremony at the Civic Centre saw Brigadier Neil Baverstock read a citation.

Afterwards, he said: “It is important to remember the family that is left behind.”

Also present were Major Malcolm McGill, of 145 South Brigade, Captain Fredrick Nock, of the Royal Army Medical Corps Association, and Catherine Kitchener, county manager of the Royal British Legion Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

Why was he out there?

IT was a guerrilla conflict that was a war in all but name. Known as the “Malayan Emergency”, it saw British and Commonwealth forces pitted against a dogged communist insurgency in the South East Asian country from 1948 to 1960. It was a Cold War conflict aimed at curbing the red menace engulfing the region as well as safeguarding western assets. Some 510 British servicemen – many doing their National Service – died while many more were wounded physically and psychologically.

The Daily Echo is currently backing veterans in their battle for official acknowledgement. The MoD is considering their plea for a rosette to be attached to their General Service Medals.