WW2 Veteran Receives France’s Highest Military Honour

A 93-year-old veteran of the D-Day landings has been awarded the Légion d’Honneur. Tony Rampling was presented with France’s highest distinction, in appreciation of his role in the liberation of France.

As part of the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014, France's then president, François Hollande pledged to decorate all British veterans who had served in France during the war with the Légion d’Honneur. Since then, more than 4,300 veterans across the country have been honoured.

As a fellow fellow recipient of the Legion d Honneur, French Army attache, Colonel Antoine de Loustal presented the medal.

Tony Rampling landed in Normandy with 61st Reconnaissance Regiment in June 1944. In the first 24 hours of the landing, more than half of the men in his unit were killed, wounded or missing in action.

Tony's family turned out to support him at the ceremony, and his grandson, William, said the survivors of the conflict deserved the medal. 

"The courage that all those men showed should be rewarded"