A WAR hero has received the highest honour that France can bestow for his contribution during the Second World War.

William Lloyd, who lives in Northfield Road, Sherfield-on-Loddon, has been appointed to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre national de la Legion d’Honneur by the French Embassy in London.

The order, which was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802, is the highest decoration in France.

A letter sent to William, who is known as Bill, read: “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 from 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.”

The 98-year-old joined the Royal Air Force when he was aged just 18 in 1935 and then undertook two-and-a-half years of technical training for aircraft maintenance in Henlow, Bedfordshire, before being called up to serve when the war broke out in 1939.

The grandfather-of-three played an instrumental role during the six-year conflict, inspecting aircraft as they came in, and his job took him all over Europe including Lille, in France and Ypres, in Belgium.

Once he had come home from the war, he met wife Patricia and they settled down in Sherfield-on-Loddon before joining the Post Office as a subpostmaster.

Bill told The Gazette: “It is such a nice feeling. The French Government sent a circular out (last year) and I answered it and they went through what I had done and I qualified.

“It was a very important part of my life. My dad was in the Flying Corps so some of it (my passion) came from what I heard from when I was young and I wanted to carry on the family tradition. The conditions were challenging as we didn’t know what was going to happen. We took what came and worked long hours. I am very proud but we were all working together and the whole country was together.”