Award of French Legion d'Honneur to Normandy veterans

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/922161/i-still-think-about-my-friends-who-didnt-come-back-d-day-veterans-honoured-by-french-in-north-east/

“I still think about my friends who didn’t come back” – D-Day veterans honoured by France in north-east
18 May 2016



Veterans who survived one of the most crucial assaults of World War II were honoured for their role in the liberation of France yesterday.

War heroes from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands were among those who received France’s highest honour – the Ordre national de la Legion d’honneur – at the ceremony in the Granite City’s Town House.


Royal Navy veteran Alexander Burnett of Culter. Picture: Kevin Emslie.


Gordon Highland John Johnston arrived on the sands of Normandy on D-Day – his 24th birthday – at 11am. Picture: Kevin Emslie.

All five men participated in the Battle of Normandy – with several even landing on D-Day – for the largest seaborne invasion in military history.


(L-R): John Johnston, William Adie, Alexander Burnett, Peter Davies and Duncan Cormack. Picture: Kevin Emslie.

The ambassador for France in the United Kingdom, Sylvie Bermann, presented them with their medals on behalf of the country’s president, Francois Hollande.

“Gentlemen, you are living witnesses to a history you wrote on our soil,” she told them. “A history which shaped your identity, our identity and those of Britain and France.”

Gordon Highlander John Johnston landed at Arromanches Beach at 11am on D-Day – also his 24th birthday.

“I still think about my friends that didn’t come back”, said the 95-year-old, from Inverurie man.

“I was called up on September 1, 1939 and served right through to the August 26, 1946.

“It was the unknown. You didn’t know what you were going to, there was so many troops landing and it was such a battle.

“It wasn’t only D-Day, I think it would have been decision day for the whole world.

“It’s a marvellous medal to receive and really I am very proud to get it but I just keep thinking of those that couldn’t get it.”


D-day veteran William Addie. Picture: Kevin Emslie.




The ambassador for France in the United Kingdom, Sylvie Bermann.


D-Day veteran Peter Davies. Credit: Kevin Emslie.

Mr Johnston was a driver for the Major General Graham during the fighting, and also served in Belgium and Germany.

Peter Davies, of Mintlaw, was 19 when he volunteered for the Royal Artillery and was sent to the sands of Normandy on day six of the assault.

Mr Davies, 91 – originally from Coventry – said: “After about two weeks I was posted in 77th medium regiment Royal Artillery

and I went right through with them, right through to victory in Germany.”

He fought in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany before the war’s end.

Fifty years later, he discovered his wife Betty had played a crucial role in it too – working on the Enigma machine at Bletchley Park.

Alexander Burnett, 91, was an 18-year-old Culter miller when he was called up to the fighting, joining the Navy on board the HMS Nelson, which replaced the HMS Rodney on day five of the Normandy landings.

He said: “They gave me the chance to go to the tin mines in Cornwall instead of the forces, I said there is no way I am going to the tin mines.

“In France we were off the coast of France bombarding the Germans. My action station was a 47 anti aircraft gun, I was on them. I finished up in Singapore.

“It is a shame because they were human beings as well, the Germans. We won the war, but I don’t know if we gained anything. Destruction is terrible.”

Duncan Cormack, 91, of Thurso was a Royal Marines coxswain commanding a landing craft which transported the troops to the sands of Normandy from D-Day onwards.

The former policeman was 18 when he signed up, also serving in the Netherlands and Burma.

Speaking at yesterday’s ceremony, his son Bruce Cormack, said: “He was there on D-Day, he was landing them on the beach under fire. The hardest thing my father always said was they would lose a few people every time they landed them on the beach.”

Methlick man, William Adie MBE, was a garage worker when he enlisted to the RAF at 17-and-a-half.

He was sent to France in 1943 as part of the air-sea rescue main craft unit.

The 90-year-old said: “It was from the air that we were worst, you never knew when the moment would come.

“You saw everything, planes – some of them tumbling to the ground, you always got a sorry feeling whether they were the enemy or not. Just tumbling down to earth like that.”

He also saw action in Belgium and following the war met his wife, Odette, whilst stationed in Paris.


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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36317685

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Scottish WW2 veterans receive Légion d'Honneur
17 May 2016

Five Scottish veterans of World War Two have been presented with France's highest military honour for their involvement in the Normandy landings.

French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann presented the Légion d'honneur at a ceremony in Aberdeen's Townhouse.

The National Order of the Legion of Honour, established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is the highest military and civil decoration in France.

While membership in the Légion is technically restricted to French nationals, foreign nationals who have served France may receive the honour.

BBC Scotland's Kevin Keane went to meet the veterans, some whom stormed the beach at Arromanches on D-Day.

 

WW2 veteran awarded Légion d'Honneur on 99th birthday - BBC News


A former gunner with the 73rd Anti-tank Regiment, Leonard Wells was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur at his care home in Sunderland on Saturday.
Mr Wells was joined by family and members of the 256 City of London Field Hospital to receive his medal.
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Captain Mark Smith, of the 256 City of London Field Hospital, said: "Leonard was a gunner with the 73rd Anti-tank Regiment so he fired 25 pounder artillery guns at enemy tanks as indirect fire or direct fire as cover for troops on the ground.

"It's a significant award in recognition of his courage and service commitment and ethos on a similar level to an OBE."

 

Last surviving original SAS hero is awarded France's highest honour for bravery | Daily Mail Online

• 282465 (1095726) Willis Michael SADLER, MC, MM, Royal Artillery, Long Range Desert Group & 1 SAS

Mike Sadler, 98, was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur yesterday, 74 years after he parachuted into Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War.

He was given the award at a private event in London with representatives of the French embassy and former members of the SAS included on the guest list.

The French defence attaché, Colonel Antoine de Loustal, who presented the red-ribboned medal to one of Britain’s last wartime heroes, said: ‘We shall not forget. We will never forget.’


Mike Sadler (left) was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur yesterday, 74 years after he parachuted into Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War

In 1941, Mr Sadler joined the Long Range Desert Group, a reconnaissance unit based in the North African desert.

He was then brought into the arising Special Air Service - introduced by Lieutenant David Stirling to launch night-time raids against Axis airfields in Libya.

Mr Sadler quickly became the unit’s top navigator as he was able to guide raiding groups across almost bare expanses of desert.

Now almost blind, Mr Sadler said: ‘I’m afraid I can’t give a speech because I can’t read any notes as I can no longer see,’ reported the Times.

Mr Sadler fought with the SAS in Italy and France following his time in the desert war, before setting up the SAS intelligence unit.

In August 7, 1944, Mr Sadler was dropped by parachute into the Loire as part of Operation Houndsworth.

The aim was to reach SAS squadrons behind the lines and help destroy fuel depots, encourage local resistance, and prevent Panzer divisions heading north.

By this time Hitler had given instructions for any captured parachutists to be executed.

Germans struck the two-jeep convoy with Mr Sadler returning fire, allowing the other jeep to flee before escaping himself. He was later awarded the Military Cross for gallantry.

Those who formed L Detachment SAS named themselves ‘the Originals’, with Mr Sadler being considered an honorary one.

He was given the role of lieutenant by Stirling but this was reportedly never told to the authorities so Mr Sadler finished the war as a major.

In December 1941, Mr Sadler was part of the first successful SAS raid - on Wadi Tamet airfield - where a team of six men ruined 24 aircraft and a fuel dump.


In December 1941 Mr Sadler was part of the first successful SAS raid, on Wadi Tamet airfield, where a team of six men ruined 24 aircraft and a fuel dump

This was led by Lieutenant Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, a former Irish international rugby star who would become one of Britain’s most decorated soldiers.

On the night of July 26, 1942, Mr Sadler, without headlights or a map, guided 18 jeeps filled with twin Vickers K machine guns along 70 miles of desert to within 200 feet of Sidi Haneish airfield.

The group then opened fire as they drove between planes, wrecking at least 37 aircraft. But one of the SAS jeep drivers was sadly shot through the head during the attack and buried in the sand.

‘I do remember the people who didn’t survive, and who didn’t have the chance to receive this great honour,’ Mr Sadler said.

He was awarded the Military Medal for the Tamit and Sidi Haneish attacks.

Mr Sadler was also one of the officers to follow Stirling on the last SAS operation during the desert war in January 1943.

This involved trying to cross the Tunisian desert to meet the British-American 1st Army but they were ambushed by a German unit.

Stirling was captured and would spend the rest of the Second World War as a prisoner of war in Colditz.

Mr Sadler managed to escape along with another SAS soldier and an Arabic-speaking Frenchman.

He guided the group on a five-day, 100-mile trek, without a map, or any food provisions, to link up with the 1st Army.

American war correspondent A J Liebling witnessed Mr Sadler as he arrived from the desert, and wrote: ‘The eyes of this fellow were round and sky blue and his hair and whiskers were very fair.

'His beard began well under his chin, giving him the air of an emaciated and slightly dotty Paul Verlaine.’

In 2014, the then French president, François Hollande, ordered that all surviving British soldiers who helped in the liberation of France should be awarded the Légion d’honneur.


Recommendation for Award for Sadler, Michael Rank: Gunner Service No: ... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/19/229
Name Sadler, Michael
Rank: Gunner
Service No: 1095726
Regiment: Royal Artillery
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Middle East (Egypt and Libya)
Award: Military Medal
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 24 February 1942
Date: 1942