French consulate in Canada searches for WW II veterans to award the Legion of Honour

WARNING: This story contains accounts from the Second World War that some readers may find distressing. 

Though it's been almost 80 years since the Second World War ended, the French government is still searching for Canadian veterans who served in the war to award them the National Order of the Legion of Honour. 

In 2014, the year that marked the 70th anniversary of D-Day (the day in 1944 when Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy and began the liberation of France), the French government started a campaign to find and recognize Canadian veterans who fought in the various operations that led to the liberation of France.

Nicolas Baudouin, the French consul general in Vancouver, who is also in charge of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Yukon, said the Legion of Honour is the highest distinction in France. It was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and recognizes the service of civilians and soldiers.

"It's a long standing tradition and a very well recognized and a very well known distinction," Baudouin said.

So far, 1,148 men and six women in Canada have been awarded the medal, and 91 of those veterans are from Alberta. One recent honouree is retired lance-corporal Joseph Novak, 98, who lives in Yukon. 

If Canadians have relatives who served in the Second World War and could be eligible for the Legion of Honour, Baudouin said to get in touch with the French consulate in Vancouver, their local Veterans Affairs Canada office or any local veterans' association. Baudouin said Veterans Affairs will cross-check the applicant's military service, and then the application will be sent to Paris for review before the medal is awarded.

Canadian veteran and Bonnyville, Alta., resident William McGregor was an army medic who landed on Juno Beach on D-Day in 1944. 

"Lots of casualties, you know, and if we weren't hauling casualties to the beach, we were picking up casualties from the front where the soldiers were fighting," he said of Juno Beach.

McGregor was awarded the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2015. He said he's grateful for the recognition Second World War veterans are now receiving for their service. 

"It probably should have been done sooner, but it's better late than never."

McGregor, who turns 99 next March, still has memories of the war, though he said his "memory isn't as good as it used to be."

"I remember coming from the big boats, the big ships, getting down a rope ladder into these landing crafts … and we were sitting all the way around the landing craft because the seas were very rough. 

"We come in to shore, but as you come in, you could hear the shells from the guns, the ships, like those destroyers and cruisers and stuff sitting out in the ocean, and they were firing at the coast and you could hear them big shells going over top of us."