A WAR veteran from Hampshire will be awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur today for his part in the liberation of France on D-Day.

Ronald Cross MBE, 96 , will be presented with the honour by French Consul Captain Francois Jean in a special ceremony.

Ron, from Gosport, said: “I’m very proud to be receiving this medal and hugely grateful to Blind Veterans UK for arranging the presentation.

"It’s very nice that we’re remembered by the French government but sad that so many aren’t alive to receive theirs.

Colonel Mike Brooke, OBE, a Blind Veterans UK Ttrustee saidys: “It will be a great honour to be there to see Ron presented with his Legion d’Honneur and I look forward to personally thanking him for his Service.

"We’re so proud of all of our veterans like Ron and it is only right that his service is recognised with this prestigious French medal.”

Ron left school at 14 and completed a joinery’s apprenticeship at White’s Builders in Gosport where he built bungalows.

He joined the Royal Engineers in August 1940 and, as part of the 79th Armoured Division, landed at H-Hour on D-Day.

He was in an AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) Churchill tank and their job was to make sure that gaps could be made for tanks to come ashore and support the infantry.

Ron said: “I still remember it very clearly but definitely wouldn’t want to do it all again.

"The infantry had already landed by the time we arrived and we landed with the Regina Rifles from Canada.

"I was a demolition NCO and if things needed to be blown away it was my job to get out and do it.

“We were successful and, by 09:00, we hoisted a blue windsock which indicated that a gap was open for the next group to come in.”

Ron went on to complete three landings in Holland later in the war and was mentioned in dispatches after one of them.

He was discharged as a corporal in 1946, after which he returned to Gosport to work at Haslar Hospital as an Ooccupational Ttherapist for 37 years.

He developed and built up the occupational therapy department over a long career and received an MBE for his work at the hospital.

Ron’s vision started to deteriorate in 2009 and he was later diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).

He began receiving support from the charity in 2012.

He said: “Blind Veterans UK are marvellous.

"Three years ago I couldn’t write a letter any more because my sight had got so bad.

"But I went on a Blind Veterans UK IT course and they have given me all the training and equipment I need to carry on.

"I have a special screen that magnifies what I write and software that reads it back to me.

“I can now send emails which is so important for keeping in touch with people like my grandchildren.”

Ron will be presented with his honour at the Blind Veterans UK Portsmouth reunion lunch held at the Royal Naval Club & Royal Albert Yacht Club.

Blind Veterans UK was founded in 1915 and the charity’s initial purpose was to help and support soldiers blinded in the First World War.

But the organisation has gone on to support more than 35,000 blind veterans and their families, spanning the Second World War to recent conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more than a century, the charity has been providing vital free training, rehabilitation, equipment and emotional support to blind and vision-impaired veterans no matter when they served or how they lost their sight.

Visit blindveterans.org.uk/support for more information.