The 82-year-old former Merchant Navy sailor spent his youth on the English ship Samgara which transported munitions and tanks from England to northern Russia during World War 2, in a bid to help the Russians keep the German invasion at bay.
In the four years from 1941-45, 811 merchant ships in 40 convoys took part, and of these, 88 ships were sunk with heavy loss of life.
Mr Foster said the convoy which shipped out before him had 16 ships, which were all sunk by the Germans.
"We were the first convoy to get through to Russia without losing a ship," he said.
The convoy of about a dozen ships avoided the German U-boats by sailing further north into the Arctic Circle.
Unfortunately, when it came time to return to England, the sea froze and the convoy had to take a more southerly route and lost two of the convoy to U-boats.
"But the main thing is, we got the gear to Russia."
Sixty-five years later, Mr Foster's contribution has been acknowledged by the Russian Federation.
A medal commemorating the 65th anniversary of victory in what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) was presented to him last week.
In forwarding the medal, Russian Federation ambassador Andrey Tatarinov, of Wellington, sent a message paying tribute to the heroism and selflessness of the New Zealand sailors who took part in the Arctic convoys.
"The Allied supplies were important and we value your personal input into the great victory."
Mr Foster said he had already received medals commemorating the 40th and 60th anniversaries of victory, but was delighted to have received another "gong".
