Decorated Lancashire D-Day veterans meet for the first time - 72 years after playing their part in Normandy landings

Both Ralph Woolnough, 90, of Blacko and Charles Roff Webb, 91, of Foulridge, have just been awarded the Légion d’honneur, the very highest French medal for military and civil merit.

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In recent years the French government has attempted to honour surviving veterans, who were part of the first wave of the invasion to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe, on June 6, 1944.

The presentation of the medals was made possible by the work of Nelson Royal British Legion welfare officer, Michael Sutcliffe, who assisted the pair with the relevant paperwork to the MoD and French authorities.

Remarkably, when asked by Mr Sutcliffe to relay an anecdote to verify they were on Sword Beach on June 6, they both independently told him the same memory about seeing a Norwegian destroyer sunk by a torpedo, 100 yards from the beach.

Mr Woolnough, who later worked in textiles and who was married to his wife Margaret for 62 years until her death last year, was a seaman on board the destroyer HMS Kelvin on D-Day.

He said: “In the weeks before, our boat and the rest of the fleet had been hiding in waters around the Orkneys.

“We then sailed to Portsmouth to prepare for the landings.

“I have a vivid memory of the night before D-Day, hearing bagpipes piping aboard the commanding officer of the Highland Regiment on to their ship and I later saw the same piper at Sword beach.

“After six days at action stations, we returned to Portsmouth and all myself and the lads wanted was a good kip.

“However, our ship was then selected to take Winston Churchill over the Channel to Normandy so we had to get the vessel spotless.

“We weren’t too pleased at the time but it was a great honour.

“To get the medal gives me great pride after these years and I’d like to thank the British Legion for helping.”

Mr Webb was a 19-year-old Royal Marine who waded through the water to reach the beach.

He said: “In all the chaos and carnage, I lost the other fellows and a later headcount saw me reported ‘Missing In Action’.

“A telegram was sent to my family back in Colne saying this and they gave me up for dead.

“When I turned up about three weeks later they couldn’t believe I was still alive.”

Mr Webb, who had a later career with the water board and is married to Alice, added: “I’m thrilled to be honoured by the French.

“I was waiting for the medal to be delivered and was checking the post every morning. It’s given me a real boost. There’s not many of us left now who were on those beaches.”

Michael Sutcliffe, from Nelson British Legion, said: “It was a pleasure to help Ralph and Charles get the medals they so richly deserve.

“When the French announced this I sent out an appeal for any veterans in Pendle for which it applied to get in touch.

“I sent out both sets of paperwork last year but heard nothing.

“When I chased it up I was told Ralph’s application was with them but Charles’ had been lost.

“Our MP Andrew Stephenson intervened and the matter was fast-tracked and both these gentlemen got their medals in the past couple of weeks.

“The fact that they were both on Sword beach and lived so close together is lovely and it’s a pleasure to see them meet each other at long last.”