After decades of struggle securing a veterans’ pension in Bermuda, Phillip Lamb now faces an “extremely difficult” campaign to get his dues from the Royal Air Force.Veterans advocate Carol Everson said he has been “bravely battling” lingering injuries from his service in the Second World War.The Bermuda Legion caseworker said Mr Lamb, who just celebrated his 90th birthday, was turned down repeatedly by the Bermuda War Veterans Association.“The War Pensions and Services Act allowed for all kinds of opportunities for soldiers when they came home — business grants, grants for a family homestead — but they had to be claimed within three years, and nobody told them about it,” she said.“Other veterans made many pleas for assistance to the establishment of the day, which went unanswered. Mr Lamb was told erroneously that he did not fit the Act and ‘wasn’t on the List’.”Speaking from his St David’s home, Mr Lamb told The Royal Gazette: “I waited almost 60 years for my pension. Now I have my benefits like health insurance.“I have a good pension from Government now. But the RAF, I should have got that when I came home in 1947.”Black veterans were not allowed to join the War Veteran’s Association until 1976, and then only as Associate Members. There was no one to speak up for them when they returned to Bermuda and needed help.Originally in the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), Mr Lamb was recruited by the RAF and trained in Canada before being sent to airfields in the UK with the rank of Leading Aircraftsman (LAC).Though he can recall his RAF serial number as 605784, Mr Lamb hasn’t been able to obtain his RAF disability pension despite trying for “six, eight months”.Now qualified as an honorary welfare officer for the RAF, Ms Everson conceded: “We will probably have to fight it very, very hard.”She said Mr Lamb’s lack of clear medical records will make the disability pension a struggle to receive.The veteran recalled: “I got blown up on March 4, 1945, two months before the war ended.”However, he is unsure which airfield he was on during the Luftwaffe attack.“I didn’t realise I was right in the midst of it. I remember seeing a flash from the explosion. Next day I found myself in the hospital.”Hurt in the leg during the bombing raid, Mr Lamb was later injured in the same leg when he worked for Bermuda Customs. Today he suffers from back pain and asthma.Ms Everson said she’s known of Mr Lamb’s plight since 2004, but was repeatedly told that he didn’t qualify for assistance.“I saw a man living in poor circumstances, in a dilapidated house and in acute pain,” she said. “I was very upset by the response I got, but my company commander, Major Barrett Dill, remained receptive.”Agreed Mr Lamb: “She is a nice lady, and she will fight for you.”Ms Everson said she is seeking to have a time capsule added to the war memorial on the grounds of Cabinet, honouring the Island’s fallen servicemen and women.“People need to know some of the amazing things Bermudians did in the war effort,” she said. “A time capsule was part of the original project, and would contain details of the contributions of Bermudians, including Mr Lamb’s story.”