A SECOND World War veteran who was among the last line of defence at Dunkirk has been awarded France’s highest honour.

Les Kerswill, 96, is one of a handful of Allied servicemen to be presented the Legion d’honneur.

Speaking from his Bournemouth home, proud Les told the Daily Echo: “It is an honour to have been awarded it.

“It is nice to think that people remember what you did back then, when you were younger and able to do it.”

Les, of Jewell Road, was one of 600 men who made up the last line of defence at the village of St Venant in a bid to stop the German army from reaching the beaches of Dunkirk.

More than 300 of his comrades were killed in the battle but their actions in holding up the German advance allowed more than 300,000 troops to be evacuated by a flotilla of little ships.

Les, who was captured by the Germans and spent years as a POW before escaping, was honoured for his bravery by St Venant officials in 2010.

On that occasion the villagers gave him a medal they had made, and he took part in the village’s 70th anniversary commemorations of Dunkirk.

Les was a lance corporal in the Royal Berkshire Regiment when he was sent to France in 1939.

He recalled a German officer telling him as he was captured: “You have nothing to be ashamed of. You put up one hell of a fight.”

Les was sent to a POW camp in western Poland, where he spent four years in captivity until the Germans marched him out of the camp in 1944 ahead of the Russian advance.

Seizing an opportunity to escape, Les sneaked off when the guards were not looking, and eventually walked 1,300 miles to freedom.

He reached Bavaria in the spring of 1945 and met up with American troops.

Speaking about Britain’s Second World War Legion d’honneur recipients, Jean-Marc Todeschini, French minister of state for veterans and remembrance, said: “To these men, France owes its liberation.

“We will never forget their bravery over 70 years ago, which led to freedom and peace in France and across Europe.”