A 92-YEAR-old D-Day veteran, who spent many years as Warminster town clerk, said receiving the Legion d'honneur medal was 'one of his proudest ever moments'.

On November 30, Alan Griffiths, who served as a radio telephone operator for the Royal Air Force, received the medal at a ceremony in the Bristol Mansion House by the French Consul, Mme Josette Lebrat.

Mr Griffiths who, at the age of 20, was stationed in Normandy from the summer of 1944 to May 1945, was honoured to receive the medal alongside his family, the Lord Mayor of Bristol Jeff Lovell and Squadron Leader Jonny Johnson.

"To be awarded this was an incredible honour, one of my proudest ever moments for sure," said Mr Griffiths. "It is a privilege to receive this and I really enjoyed the ceremony and meeting all these wonderful people. I am very grateful to them all for putting this together in what was a lovely day."

Mr Griffiths' role was to provide cover for the Allied forces and keep them abreast of enemy movements. After his crew established a radar unit in Calvados, Normandy, they would then move further inland after the town of Rouen was taken by Allied forces in September 1944.

"It was very dangerous as you can imagine. There were bombs going off and there was constant artillery fire but we had trained for this for about six months," said Mr Griffiths, who has been married to his wife Margaret for 65 years.

"The Allies had been under siege for four years so even though we were young we knew what we had to do to subdue the occupying Germans.

"We had to protect Mulberry Harbour from German bombers which was the only way the Allies could get their supplies from the UK. If that was destroyed the entire operation would have been in huge jeopardy.

"It was a vital job to our cause, as was every person who entered into a warzone. Looking back on it now, over 70 years on, the horror of war is something that should never be allowed to happen again and I hope it never will."

Following his service career he joined local government, becoming the town clerk of Warminster in the 1960s and 1970s. From there he went onto work in Langford at the meat research institute until the 1980s before retiring in Congresbury, where he is an active member of the Wrington Vale Rotary Club.