A Highland veteran of the Second World War has been decorated with the highest honour France can bestow.
Ian MacLennan from Evanton was presented with the Legion d’Honneur by Consul General Emmanual Cocher at a ceremony held at the Town House in Inverness yesterday.
The 94-year-old was accompanied to the event by his wife Ella, 93, and their children Helen and Kenneth.
In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, former French President Francois Hollande announced British soldiers who took part in the landings were eligible for the Legion d’Honneur.
Since then, well over 5,000 medals have been handed out to the surviving veterans, including around 100 in Scotland, by Mr Cocher alone.
Mr MacLennan was called up in 1942 and was put through basic training at Fort George before landing at Sword Beach during the D-Day landings.
Speaking before the ceremony a humble Mr MacLennan said: “I feel a wee bit shy for all this but very honoured.
“I knew I was due one but I didn’t like putting myself forward like that.”
Though he did not wish speak at length about his service record he added: “I went all the way through France from Normandy and then through Belgium and Holland to Germany.
“The worst fighting was around Caen and when we made it to Germany.”
In his address, Monsieur Cocher said: “The Second World War is historic not because it was a long time ago but because it gave us everything we have today.
“It returned sovereignty to France and the rights we live under.
“It also gave us the UN, Nato, the EU. So thank you, Mr MacLennan, for what you did.”
Helen MacLennan said her father’s humility almost got in the way of him getting the Legion d’Honneur at all.
She said: “He was too modest to go and get the medal. It is that generation – they think they did not do much in the war, whatever they did, and are not deserving, which is obviously not right.”
The ceremony was led by Depute Provost Councillor Graham Ross.
