A regional daily journalist has paid tribute to a “great contact” who campaigned with the newspaper for decades.

Rob Smyth, of the Burton Mail, has remembered Archie Ross, who was the public face of a campaign involving hundreds of people from across the country aimed at getting the Government to recognise war veterans who were involved in nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.

Archie, pictured above left, would regularly feature in the Mail as part of his ongoing battle to get recognition for the issues that those soldiers and their families have had to live with as a result of being part of the tests.

He passed away in September last year.

Wrote Rob: “I first got to know Archie very early on in my career at the Mail as a trainee journalist. I had read about the story of the nuclear test veterans and after some research got in contact with Archie.

“From that very first time I spoke to him to the last Archie was always the same – nice, humble and genuine. You could always hear the passion of his fight in his voice and despite the many issues that being part of the nuclear tests caused him he never, ever let that show.

“I spoke to Archie for stories and just in general dozens of times every year and every single time it was a pleasure to hear his thoughts and try to help him in any way I could. Sadly, despite his best efforts, Archie passed away before he got the justice that he and others like him so clearly deserved.

“The tireless campaigner never rested on his laurels and fought a hard fight right up until the end. In my eyes he was a very special man, a man who deserved to win the battle that he decided to fight all those years ago.

“While one year on from his death the nuclear test veterans remain no closer to winning their battle, the fighting spirit so greatly encapsulated by Archie will always live on. Archie made a massive impact on me as a reporter and as a person and I feel privileged to have been part of his life story.”