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Légion d’Honneur to be Presented to 21 Normandy Veterans at Yorkshire Air Museum

Sunday 22nd May 12 Noon.

The Allied Air Forces Memorial & Yorkshire Air Museum is proud to announce that once again we have been requested by the French Embassy to host another regional ceremony to present the Légion d’ Honneur, the highest Military Honour the French Government can bestow, to 21 veterans of the Normandy “D-Day” Invasion campaign of June 1944. The Presentation will take place on Sunday 22nd May, commencing at 12 noon, in the impressive setting of the Yorkshire Air Museum’s Main Display Hangar, with the stunning visual backdrop of the WWII Halifax bomber, and other historic aircraft.

The Légion d’Honneur will be presented to the veterans on behalf of the French Government by the French Consul to Yorkshire, Mr Jeremy Burton and Colonel Bruno Cunat, who is the French Liaison Officer to the Ministry of Defence, based at RAF High Wycombe. The City of York Civic Party will be in attendance, along with representatives from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

The Museum & Memorial has hosted three such ceremonies since April 2015, but this is by far the largest, with veterans attending from as far afield as Lincolnshire and Morpeth in Northumberland, and including Newcastle, Sunderland, Manchester, Leeds, York, Doncaster, Wetherby and Brighouse.

The veterans served with the Royal Navy, Army (various Battalions), Royal Artillery, Royal Marines, Royal Army Medical Corps and of course the Royal Air Force, making for a fascinating cross section of personnel gathering in one place, for a very special occasion.

Museum Director, Ian Reed, comments: “This is a historic and increasingly rare event with these very special people who represent a fast decreasing number of veterans from a period of our past history which still affects us to this day. From our experience, we know that this will be a very emotional time for all the veterans, as they remember many lost colleagues and friends, but a day also of pride, particularly for the many family members supporting them on this special day.”

http://www.yorkshireairmuseum.org

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