France today saluted York Great War veteran John Clemit.

John Clemit with his Legion d'Honneur medal

Mr Clemit, 101, was being awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur in the class of Chevalier (Knight) by a French government grateful for his sacrifices on the Western Front more than 80 years ago.

The medal was being presented to him this afternoon on the 80th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice by the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Derek Smallwood, at the elderly people's nursing home in Fordlands Road, Fulford, where Mr Clemit lives.

The Royal British Legion has been tracing the remaining Great War veterans to help the French seize what may be the last chance to recognise their contributions. Mr Clemit, who joined the West Riding Royal Garrison Artillery and served with the 2nd London Heavy Battery at Arras and the Somme, was the only survivor the Legion found in the York area.

He was delighted with his medal, awarded for services on French soil, He said: "It looks very nice." Mr Clemit recalled the original Armistice Day: "We all just jumped for joy, singing and carrying on.

"I never got it, I was very fortunate. We lost a few men in the London Battery."

The Royal British Legion's county field officer for North and East Yorkshire, Colin Northridge, said: "It's a very prestigious medal that he's getting from the French Government, and I feel very honoured just to be part of it."

Coun Smallwood said: "It's always a pleasure to see the honours that were earned in the First World War paid to those who made so many sacrifices to achieve those honours. The Legion d'Honneur has been a long time in coming, but it is well earned and well deserved."

The Green Howards discovered a surviving member of the regiment who served in the Great War just two days ago, after fearing it would be the first Armistice Day celebrated without anyone from that conflict.

William Jewitt, who is 102 next month, will also receive the Legion d'Honneur.

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