D-Day veteran to receive France's top honour

A World War Two veteran who received more than 16,000 cards for his 100th birthday after a public appeal is to receive France's highest honour.

Dougie Shelley, who joined the Royal Navy aged 17, was a seaman gunner on the destroyer HMS Milne on D-Day and also took part in the Arctic convoys.

Mr Shelley, from Southend-on-Sea, who celebrated his milestone birthday on Tuesday, had previously mentioned to his carer Paul Bennett that he thought he should receive the Legion d'Honneur.

Mr Bennett, 77, said a lot of his shipmates had apparently been awarded with the French medal.

Mr Bennett said that on 16 September he received a letter by email from the defence minister Lord Coaker, saying the bid had been approved.

"We're waiting to get confirmation in writing that he's going to receive the award from the French and the where and when of the presentation," he said.

Mr Bennett told Mr Shelley the news on the day of his birthday, and said he was "over the moon".

"I said things like, 'Dougie, you're going to get your medal', and that seemed to cheer him up a bit," he said.

"He was there on D-Day on HMS Milne, his destroyer, guarding the beaches in Normandy for the troops going ashore.

"So that was the argument we used and it seems to have borne some fruit."

He celebrated his 100th birthday at a tea party at the Royal Naval Association branch in Southend.

His local branch had put out an appeal for birthday cards for him, and a count the day before totalled 16,266 cards received, as well as many gifts.

Cards came from as far afield as Australia, as well as from King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and Downing Street.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.