Former Commando Patrick Churchill was honoured yesterday for wartime services to the 'Free French' more than 50 years after the end of the Second World War.

Mr Churchill, 74, of Newland, Witney, served with Free French Commandos as a signaller in Four Commando during the Second World War.

In 1944, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with silver star for bravery in a landing at Flushing, Holland, and also took part in the D-Day landings.

Yesterday, Mr Churchill, his wife Karin and son Francis, attended the Commemoration of the 18th of June ceremony at the General De Gaulle memorial, in Carlton Gardens, off The Mall, in London.

The occasion marked Charles De Gaulle's 1940 speech in which he rejected the French truce with the Germans and became leader of the Free French in England.

Mr Churchill was presented with a second honour - the Croix du Combattant - by the Association De Francais Libres. He was recommended for the honour after a meeting with a former French colleague two years ago.

Mr Churchill said before the ceremony: "I believe it is for services to the people of France and I am obviously very honoured.

"Many of the men I served with should be recognised for what they did. The foreign members had escaped from the occupied countries and if they were caught they were usually shot."

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