A NORMANDY veteran spoke of his pride after being awarded receiving France s top medal for military service medal. Kenneth Oldham was awarded the L gion d Honneur at the Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum in York. The 96-year-old, from Unsworth, took part in the D-Day landings as a member of the British Army s Parachute Regiment. He and said he was honoured to receive the award at the event, which saw many military dignitaries flocking to the Yorkshire museum.
Mr Oldham said: I m still tired from the event to be honest, but It was a marvellous day. It s amazing how many top brass were there. But It was also very emotional, but I was pleased my family were with me, it was a wonderful moment. Twelve members of Mr Oldham s family made the trip with him over the county border.
Despite being a member of the Parachute Regiment, Mr Oldham did not drop from an aeroplane during the D-Day landings, but instead arrived on French soil in a landing craft. He said throughout his life he had often looked back upon events of D-Day, and the whole war in general, but in recent weeks in the build up to the service he began to think about the beach landings much more.
It s strange, there was so much chaos, organised chaos was flying around that day, you don t remember all of it, but it does come back to you quite vividly sometimes, he said. Mr Oldham was one of five Normandy veterans presented with the L gion d Honneur by Jeremy Burton, the French Consul to Yorkshire, and the French Defence Attach Contre Amiral Patrick Chevallereau, who gave the declaration of thanks on behalf of the French government and pinned the medals on their blazers in a proud moment for the veterans and their families.
This emotional part of The ceremony brought tears to the eyes of many in the congregation and ended with a warm, extended standing ovation for the veterans. Mr Oldham added: We did what we had to do in the war, but it is still very nice and humbling when you receive a thank you like that. Air force and diplomatic representatives from France, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and Russia were present for the ceremony, which was rounded off with a fly past from Second World War WWII aircraft.
Ian Reed, director at the Yorkshire Air Museum, said: The whole event was a grand and fitting occasion to reflect and remember all those who served for our freedom and security in many conflicts over the years.