Navy hero is given French honour for role in D-Day
A former Royal Naval sailor from Maidstone has been awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the French government in recognition of his part in liberating their country from Nazi rule.
William Adams, 91, was an Able Seaman on board HMS Pelican, which conducted anti-submarine operations to prevent the passage of U-boats through the Bay of Biscay, during the D-Day landings in the Second World War.
The work was vital in protecting the Normandy invasion convoys.
His ship then joined escort group 111 to help Convoy EBP1 on passage to Omaha Beach on D-Day, before continuing antisubmarine operations.
Mr Adams, who lives in Shepway, became a painter and decorator on leaving the service and then worked at Reeds paper mill.
His daughter Janice Chard said: “He seldom talks about his war-time experiences. In fact, it wasn’t until the coverage of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings came on the television that he said: ‘I remember that day well’. “It was the first we knew that he had been there.”
Mr Adams was one of seven Kent veterans to receive the medal from the honorary French Consul, James Ryeland, at a ceremony at National Memorial To The Few at Capelle-Ferne last Friday .
President François Hollande announced in 2014 – on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day land- ings – that it would award its medal to all the Allied servicemen still living who took part in military operations in France between D-Day and the end of the war.
The other six honoured were Queen Alexandra hospital sister Joan Price, of Gillingham, who served in a field hospital near Bayeux, RAF pilot Kenneth Drury, of Sittingbourne, who identified enemy targets for bombing, Edward Snow, of Staple, a merchant seaman whose ship transported troops to the landing beaches, Platoon Sergeant Gordon Holland of Sittingbourne, who landed at Sword Beach, David Norris, from Dover, a merchant seaman who made four trips to the Utah and Omaha beaches on the supply vessel Jesse G Cotting and Able Seaman William Jacobs, from Kennington, who served aboard a minesweeper during the Normandy landings.