Major General Martin White, the Isle of Wight’s Lord-Lieutenant,has presented two veterans of the D-Day campaign in France in June 1944 with their Legion D’Honneur medals, awarded by the French government.
Due to the high number of medals issued by the French Embassy the Lord-Lieutenant was invited to undertake the formal presentation to the Island-based veterans.
The recipients were:
∙ Mr Kenneth Killeen, ex RAF navigator in Lancaster bombers;
∙ Mr Leonard William, member of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, landed at Gold Beach, Arromanches.
The ceremony took place in the presence of the chairman of the Isle of Wight Council, Councillor Charles Chapman and the High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight, Ron Holland, in the chairman/lieutenancy office at County Hall, Newport.
Prior to the event, Councillor Jon Gilbey presented a painting to the Lord-Lieutenant, in commemoration of Spitfire pilot Archibald Lyall, who died 75 years ago as he attempted to make an emergency landing at Apse Heath, on 28 November 1940, but tragically died. This canvas is of His Royal Highness Prince Harry in a Spitfire over the Needles, a flight which Prince Harry undertook last year.