A FORMER Welsh Guardsman has threatened to throw away the medals he won during the Second World War in protest at a perceived snub to Wales.

Hedley Stone, 83, earned the Africa Star and the Defence Star during his time as a guardsman between 1940 and 1946.

But he has threatened to bin them - because no wreath was laid for Welsh servicemen at the Cenotaph service in London on Sunday.

Mr Stone, of Pontypool, whose medals are currently with a friend in Bognor Regis, said: "We have at last been delivered the ultimate insult.

"I was watching the ceremony on TV, and to my utter disgust I found Wales represented by a Scotsman and a secondary reference being made to our country in a shared wreath.

"Two square feet of space could not be found for a Welsh presence at the monument, and even our glorious dead are not treated on a par with the rest of the nation.

"Wales is not being treated as an equal, and I would suggest that a public apology should be made to the Welsh nation.

"It wouldn't be out of turn if Mr Blair made it through the House of Commons. I lost an eye in the Second World War and my loss is as great as any Englishman's.

"I served in North Africa, I was captured and spent three years as a prisoner of war, first in Italy and then we were transferred to Austria, and that's where we ended the war.

"Medals I once cherished I now find abhorrent, unclean, and they have won their billet in the dustbin.

"I think it's unacceptable and I think we deserve much better."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said: "No wreaths are laid specifically on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales, and neither the Scottish National Party nor Plaid Cymru has gained enough seats in the House of Commons to enable their parliamentary leaders to lay wreaths in their own right.

"Since, however, the two parties have formed a joint group with a total of nine members, it was agreed that Mr Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, would lay a wreath on behalf of both parties.

"Next year the honour will fall to Mr Elfyn Llwyd, as leader of Plaid Cymru (in the House of Commons)."