MUSSELBURGH D-Day veteran Dr Tom Renouf has been awarded France’s highest military honour, the Legion d’Honneur, during a ceremony in France.

Dr Renouf, 89, who served with the 51st Highland Division, received the award as he took part in commemorations marking the famous division’s liberation of towns and villages across France.

Dr Renouf, a veteran of the 5th Battalion Black Watch, has already received the Military Medal for his bravery in helping to liberate France, and received the award from the French equivalent of the Lord Lieutenant of Normandy, Francois de Gaalon, two weeks ago in the presence of Sir Peter Ricketts, the British ambassador to France.

The award was arranged by the Paris-based 51st Highland Memorial Pipes and Drums Band, during the Paddle Memory Tour it made of the towns and villages liberated by the division in some of the bloodiest fighting in the Normandy campaign, as part of the 70th anniversary commemorations.

The ceremony took place at Grandchamp, where the division endured one of its toughest battles and highest casualty rate, during a battle to secure a German observation hill.

Dr Renouf joined the tour for five days, revisiting memories from his past.

He said: “I was there as a symbol of all the liberators from our division who had helped liberate these communities.

“It was the most marvellous day in their lives for those liberated after years of abuse and we all share a special bond.

“So many people wanted to talk to me, to shake my hand.

“It was a very moving and memorable trip.” Dr Renouf said that above all when he received his medal, he remembered his friends who could not make the tour and those who died during the Normandy campaign in 1944.

He said: “It was terrible, we lost so many men, and wondered when it would be our turn, because we were certain it would be at some point.

“Receiving the medal was a precious, emotional moment and everyone understood it was not about me, I was symbolic of all my comrades.” The Paddle Memory Tour saw plaques unveiled in 17 towns and villages for the 51st Highland Division and two for 7th Armoured Brigade.

At each ceremony, Dr Renouf read out a lesson, while the British and French national anthems were played, along with the Last Post.

Jean-Francois Alasdaire, who was one of the members of the memorial band and tour organisers, said: “It was a great privilege to remember the brave Scots who helped to liberate Normandy and we were delighted that Dr Renouf could join us and receive his honour.”