Given France’s highest honour, Scots tank hero who took on Hitler’s Panzers
A Scots war hero who survived Normandy’s largest tank battle with ‘a few bruised ribs’ was yesterday awarded France’s highest military honour.
Tank sergeant Harold Currie received the Légion d’honneur for his service during the Second World War – the first to be awarded on Scottish soil.
The 91-year-old received the insignia from Consul General Emmanuel Cocher at a ceremony i n Glasgow’s City Chambers.
Mr Currie, of Mauchline, Ayrshire, volunteered for active service on his 18th
‘In one day we lost half the regiment’
birthday in 1942 and was assigned to the 7th Armoured Division ahead of the Normandy landings.
During the invasion of June 6, 1944, he landed on Gold Beach in his waterproofed tank as part of B Squadron.
Early in the morning of June 13, British tanks and infantry moved into Villers-Bocage where they were warmly greeted by French citizens.
But unbeknown to the British command, German Panzer divisions were being offloaded from trains only a few miles away and they were soon to be engaged in the biggest tank battle of the Normandy campaign.
Mr Currie, a father of four and grandfather of 13, told the ceremony audience that the decoration had come as a complete surprise to him.
He said: ‘It’s a great honour to receive this medal today. I didn’t expect it. I joined the 7th Armoured Division and it was an exciting time for me. I enjoyed it.’
Recalling the Battle of VillersBocage, he said: ‘It was a beautiful day, no sign of any Germans.
‘But then things all changed at about 11 in the morning. A whole Panzer division had come off from trains about 3km [1.8 miles] away.
‘ They had an entire Panzer division against just one small regiment of ours and we were surrounded by this armoured division.
‘In one day we lost the half the regiment, we had inferior armour to them. At the age of 19 lots of my friends were killed, which is very tragic.’
More than 25 British tanks were destroyed by the Germans in the battle, with a loss of 100 soldiers. Mr Currie’s tank was later involved in a fatal accident, which killed the driver and co- driver. Mr Currie escaped with no more than badly bruised ribs and had rejoined the regiment within a few weeks.
After the war Mr Currie worked for Seagram and Pernod Ricard and eventually became the managing director for Chivas Regal in Paisley, before founding his own whisky distillery.
As a keen football fan, he was at one time chairman of St Mirren, where he hired an up-and-coming young f ootball manager, Alex Ferguson.
Mr Currie said: ‘The manager at the time was hopeless, so he had to go, and who should come on to the scene then, by recommendation? Alex Ferguson, up-and- coming manager.
‘He used to phone me at home almost every evening to have a chat about how he was getting on.’
Presenting Mr Currie with his award, Mr Cocher said: ‘You are a great example of taking part in the liberation of France, having been there on D-Day and having gone as far as Berlin to ensure the liberation would mean peace and freedom forever.’
Mr Currie’s sons, Paul, 51, and Andrew, 54, were present during the ceremony, along with his wife, Barbara, 86.
Andrew Currie said: ‘ We’re delighted the French have decided to make this honour. We think it’s fantastic to appreciate all the surviving veterans. It was a lovely ceremony and I’m proud of my dad.’