Hemel Hempstead Member of Parliament, The Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, visited 91-year old Gadebridge resident Eric Downing recently to congratulate him on receiving France’s highest honour the Legion d’Honneur.

President François Hollande announced the awarding of the Legion d’Honneur to all surviving Normandy veterans during the 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day on June 6 2014.

Mike Penning, who had personally arranged the medal to be formally mounted, said:

“I congratulate Eric on this honour and I am proud to have been invited to visit him and see the medal for myself and hear his incredible stories.

“I am delighted that the French government wish to recognise the acts of heroism and determination displayed by surviving veterans of the Normandy landings, and of the wider campaigns to liberate France in 1944, by awarding them with the Legion d’Honneur.”

Eric Downing, was in the 22nd Dragoons which was part of the 79th Armoured Division and at just 20 years old was one of the first to land at Juno beach in Normandy on D-Day. Mr Downing was a gun and wireless operator in a Sherman tank that been specially adapted as a flail-tank with chains and balls that hit the ground with force to detonate any mines. This created a clear path up the beach for troops following on behind.

The 79th Armoured Division had a unique role developing a range of specialist equipment to help ground troops get across soft sand and shingle, through beach obstacles and clear mines. With their non-conventional appearance, they were colloquially known as “the Funnies”.

Mr Downing went on from Normandy to Belgium, Holland and was in Germany when the end of the war in Europe was finally declared.

Mr Downing said:

“I am overwhelmed to receive this award from the French government. I regret that so many of my contemporaries are no longer around to receive theirs, but it is a great honour and I am very proud.”