A VETERAN of Dunkirk, D-Day and Arnhem has been inducted as a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur.

Royston Burton, known as Roy, took park in some of the most pivotal battles of the Second World War with the Grenadier Guards Armoured Division, and was severely injured when a shell exploded on the front of his scout car.

The 97-year-old, who still lives in his own home in Queen's Park, received the prestigious French medal on June 6 - the anniversary of D-Day itself.

The citation reads: "We owe our freedom and security largely to your dedication and because you were ready to risk your life".

Mr Burton said he was very "proud" to add the medal to six others he received through the course of his war service, along with a certificate of gallantry awarded when he was injured, and a medal for his 27 years with the Bournemouth fire brigade.

"There can't be many of us left now to receive this medal," he said.

"I liked Army life and would probably still join if I was young again. I don't think they would take me now.

"I joined the Guards in 1937, and never expected there would be a war. But we went, you had to."

Mr Burton was born in Manston, Kent, the son of the village blacksmith, but having grown up around horses he longed to join a cavalry regiment. He ended up in the Guards because, he says, "the recruiting officer got half a crown for a guardsman".

He was dispatched to the continent with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939.

"They gave us five rounds of ammunition each," he said.

"But we were disciplined. At Dunkirk we stood all night on the mole (jetty) while shells fell on either side. We were told not to break ranks."

His unit was one of the last to escape during the evacuation.

He spent the next few years in England, and met and married his wife Audrey after spotting her boating on the lake in Poole Park. Their marriage came only a few months before he embarked for the invasion of Normandy.

Despite his injury, sustained in July 1944, he returned to Europe and the horrific battles at Arnhem and Nijmegen.

After the war, Mr Burton and his wife settled in Bournemouth where he joined the fire service, ending up officer in charge at the old Holdenhurst Road station. He cared for his wife when she fell ill with Alzheimers disease. She died a few years ago.

Their son Peter works for South West Trains.