WOMEN who served in the Women's Land Army during World War 11 - the girls who kept British agriculture going whilst the men were away in the armed forces - are today eligible for a specially struck medal to finally honour to recognise their contribution to the war effort.

Hundreds of thousands of these young women worked as farm labourers or foresters, often doing hard physical labour alongside, ironically, captured Italian and German prisoners of war. Both were familiar sights in the Yorkshire Dales well into the late 1940s.

The award is just the latest in a list of "forgotten" war heroes who have finally been thanked for their efforts.

Merchant seamen, who died in their thousands in the Battle of the Atlantic bringing vital supplies to Britain, were only recognised in recent years. But aircrew of RAF Bomber Command, many of whom flew from North Yorkshire airfields and lost 50,000 comrades during the war, have yet to receive a campaign medal.