‘I’m proud and grateful that I survived and had the experience’

SIXTY-FIVE years after he first saw the beaches of Normandy from behind a gun on the deck of a US Navy landing craft on D-Day, John ‘Harry’ Kellers will return to receive one of France’s highest honours today.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will present Kellers with a medal making him a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1944 Allied invasion that liberated France from Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Kellers is one of around 20 US veterans who flew to France for the ceremony to be attended by US President Barack Obama.