A Royal Navy veteran has been presented with a top French honour for his service during the Second World War.

Cedric Hollands, 92, was awarded the Legion d’honneur at a special ceremony at the Willesborough Cricket Club in Hythe Road on Armistice Day last Friday.

Mr Hollands has lived in Ashford for decades and raised his two sons and three daughters in the town.

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He was presented with the medal by honorary French consul James Ryeland and the Blind Veterans Association charity, with a performance from Chris Mezza, an old friend and country singer and musician, who travelled from the Isle of Wight to be there on the day.

The Legion d’honneur, established in 1802, is the highest French order for military and civil merits, and foreign nationals who have served France may apply to receive the honour.

Mr Hollands said: “At first I thought it’s just another medal, and I’ve got stacks of medals, then I realised what it was.

“It’s the top French award, so then I put in for it. It’s a great honour.”

Mr Hollands was born in Cheriton in 1923 and grew up in Newington, and joined the Navy in 1939 at the age of 15 and served for 14 years.

He worked first as a seaman on the guns and then radar control, locating enemy aircraft and ships.

He saw fierce action in the battle of Crete, and went on to America, where they were called in at Pearl Harbour and carried on to Remington Dock on the west coast for six months of repairs to be carried out.

He also took part in raids on Sumatra and Burma.

He returned to England where he joined the destroyer HMS Kempenfelt and went back to the Mediterranean.

Mr Hollands continued: “I remember the good times, you forget the bad times mostly, except in the Mediterranean where I saw so much action.

“That stuck with me, I shall never forget that. But I can honestly say I was never scared.

“I think it’s just because I was only about 17 then. We were so confident that [the ship] wouldn’t sink and it couldn’t.”

Mr Hollands returned to England for D-Day and escorted the armada of landing craft going across to France.

On VE day, he endured a series of kamikaze raids from the Japanese and assisted the Americans fighting the Japanese along with short spells in Sydney, where upon his return the news of the atom bomb being dropped was announced.

On V-J Day, they sailed to Hong Kong to assist in the occupation of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

He continued service in the Navy until 1954. Afterwards, he worked at the Ashford Railway Works, then in car repairs and in a plastic factory. He finally retired at the age of 82: “I wouldn’t have packed up, but then I lost my sight.”

He lost his sight in 2005 to age-related macular degeneration.

In 2008, he started to receive support from the Blind Veterans Association charity and was able to recover his independence.

His youngest child, Tracey Wretham, 39, spoke about the family’s delight at his Legion d’honneur award.

She said: “We’re all immensely proud.

“It was a very emotional event on Friday, learning about the details of the action that he was involved in.

“I think it was quite a shock to us because previously he’s not really wanted to talk about the war obviously because it’s emotional for him. So I think it kind of drove home to us how lucky we are to have him.

“We’ve always been very proud of him for what he did throughout the war. It’s good that he’s got that recognition of what he’s done, fought for his country along with other servicemen as well."

Mrs Wretham spoke about remembering the war: “I think it’s very important to keep the awareness. I’ve got a four year old daughter, so making her aware so that these things aren’t forgotten.

“Particularly this year being the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, I think it’s important that such significant events are remembered.”

Mr Hollands is a proud family man.

He married his wife Phyllis in 1956. She passed away two years ago after 58 years of marriage.

He has 18 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.