British war veteran and campaigner honoured by Queen

Harry Shindler, a veteran of the Battle of Anzio and the liberation of Rome in world war two, will be presented with the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by the British ambassador to Italy, Christopher Prentice ,on Wednesday 19 February at Villa Wolkonsky, the ambassador’s residence.

Shindler was included in the Queen's New Year's Honour list for his work in tracing the graves of British servicemen killed or listed as missing in action during world war two.

Recently Shindler helped Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters to find the battlefield site where his father was killed in Aprilia, near Anzio, when Waters was just five months old.

The day before receiving his MBE, Shindler accompanied Waters to commemorative events in Anzio and Aprilia on the 70th anniversary of the death of his father, Lt Eric Fletcher Waters.

The 93-year-old Shindler is also well known for his one-man crusade to have voting rights restored to foreign-based UK citizens who, under current legislation, lose their right to vote in British elections after living abroad for more than 15 years.

Shindler took his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where it was rejected last May. Undeterred, Shindler says he is prepared to take his case to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.

Born in 1921 Shindler has lived in Italy since 1982, founding the Association of British Ex-Pats in Italy and working for the Italy Star Association which organises and participates in the annual Anzio landing commemorations.

Another Rome resident was honoured in the Queen's New Year's Honour list: the director of the Anglican Centre, Archbishop David Moxon who was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, in recognition of his services to the Anglican Church.

Moxon, who is the Archbishop of Canterbury's representative to the Holy See, has chosen to accept the award in his native New Zealand, in March.

Images courtesy of British embassy to Italy