The reason we're all here today is all to do with your bravery.

That was the message to four courageous war veterans who were handed the highest French decoration, the Legion d'Honneur, at a special ceremony at Bournemouth Town Hall yesterday (FRI).

Mayor, Cllr John Adams, welcomed Stan Hartill, Eldon 'Bob' Roberts, Les Kerswill and Ted Young, and their friends and family, to formally hand them their awards.

The four ex-servicemen, who between them have 375 years, stood proudly thanking Cllr Adams and Conor Burns MP for arranging the gathering, as they each told their tales.

Mr Hartill, formerly of RAF Servicing Commando, said: "When I joined the RAF in February 1940 things were very different and I never thought for a moment one day I'd be in the mayor's parlour receiving the Legion d'Honneur.

"Thank you everyone for coming along."

Mr Kerswill, who served at Dunkirk, said he still has the boots he marched 1,300 miles in from Russian lines.

"They have been preserved in my family. I walked 1,300 miles but it didn't seem like it. It wasn't as cold as you might think," he said.

Mr Roberts, originally from Canada, was one of the first troops to set foot on the Normandy beaches, and fought across France, Belgium and Holland.

He was the second Canadian soldier ashore on D-Day.

"We landed at Juno beach after training in this country and went through front line infantry right up to the border with Germany where I eventually got wounded," he said.

"I was 100 yards from the German border and got shrapnel in my leg and it finished my war. I never got to Germany.

"While I was here I met an English rose," he added. "The sweetest English rose I've ever known. She passed away five years ago and it was her birthday yesterday."

Corporal Bob Roberts, from Bournemouth, was involved in one of the more bizarre confrontations of the Second World War.

Standing at 5ft 3ins, the diminutive soldier took the surrender of 7ft 6ins tall German soldier Jakob Nacken. The moment was caught on camera by a comrade, discovered years later by Sherborne historian Rob Smith.

Mr Young, of the Royal Engineers, was officially decorated by a representative of the French consulate last year.