Turned to welcoming navy personnel receiving a decoration (8)
I believe the answer is:
ornament
'a decoration' is the definition.
('ornament' can be a synonym of 'decoration')
'turned to welcoming navy personnel receiving' is the wordplay.
'turned' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'welcoming' indicates putting letters inside (in sense of 'inviting in').
'navy' becomes 'rn' (abbreviation for Royal Navy).
'personnel receiving' becomes 'amen' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to' back-to-front is 'ot'.
'rn'+'amen'='rnamen'
'ot' placed around 'rnamen' is 'ORNAMENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ornament that I've seen before include "A mark of honour" , "Trinket - decoration" , "trill?" , "Turn" , "composers can provide in a shake" .)