French honour for World War II veteran

A VETERAN from Easter Ross has been awarded the highest honour France can bestow.

Ian MacLennan (94) from Evanton was presented with the Legion d’honneur on Tuesday night.

His wife Ella (93) and three children Kenneth, Helen and Isobel accompanied him to the awards ceremony.

Afterwards Helen said: "The night couldn’t have gone any better, it was excellent.

"My dad has always been my hero, but we are all incredibly proud of him.

"He was a bit shy and shaky on his feet but he is glad he attended the ceremony nonetheless."

Mr MacLennan originally did not want to receive the medal, believing he had not done enough to deserve it. However, his daughter said this was definitely not true.

The award was presented to Mr MacLennan at Inverness Town House by French Consul General Emmanuel Cocher.

The Legion d’honneur is the highest order of merit which France can bestow.

In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, French President Francois Hollande enabled British soldiers who took part in the mission that represented the beginning of the end of the war in Europe to apply for the honour.

More than 5000 medals have since been handed out and around 100 have been presented to soldiers in Scotland.

Mr MacLennan applied for the medal by submitting an application form to French authorities, which took three months to process.

After approval it took a further three months for the award to be delivered to Scotland ahead of the ceremony at the town house.

Mr MacLennan undertook his basic training at Fort George.

He fought all the way through France, Belgium and Holland and in to Germany.

He revisited Normandy for the first time in 74 years this May.