A SECOND World War veteran who helped liberate France has received one of the country’s highest honours.

Former Pressed Steel worker Elvet Davies, 98, was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in recognition of his help liberating France.

Mr Davies said: “I have mixed feelings about receiving the medal.

“There are so many more entitled to it than I was, some of my friends were killed by my side.”

He received the honour after making an application to the UK Ministry of Defence, which was passed on to the French Government.

In a letter to Mr Davies, France’s Ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann wrote: “I offer you my warmest congratulations on this high honour in recognition of your acknowledged military engagement and your steadfast involvement in the liberation of France during the Second World War.

“As we contemplate this Europe of peace, we must never forget the heroes of June 1944 like you, those men who came across the Atlantic, the Channel, the Mediterranean and the Pacific to begin the liberation of Europe by liberating France.

“We owe our freedom and security largely to your dedication, because you were ready to risk your lives.”

Born in Machynlleth, Wales, Mr Davies moved to Oxford when he was 17 and worked in a Headington bakery before he was called up to fight.

Private Davies became a driver with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and spent three years in Northern Ireland with a transport platoon prior to D-Day.

He was then transferred to the Second Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders 115th Scottish Division as the Allies made preparations for the Normandy landings, when he drove a tracked vehicle towing a 6lb gun in an anti-tank platoon.

After the war he worked at Pressed Steel in Cowley.

He met his future wife Violet while training in Northern Ireland, and they had one son, Clem, who now lives in Wantage and works as a chartered accountant.

Mrs Davies died in 2000, and Mr Davies moved back to Wales shortly afterwards, settling in Welshpool.

He read about the opportunity to apply for the Legion of Honour in a newsletter from Blind Veterans UK, and representatives from the charity presented the medal to him in a surprise ceremony.

He said: “It was very nice, but I wish they had told me beforehand and I would have put my best suit on.”