text: More than 70 years ago these five men each played their own vital role in the Normandy campaign that began with the D-Day landings. Two were just teenagers, another was a young sapper, one a rookie tank driver and the last was a veteran of jungle warfare. All ordinary young men doing their bit to help liberate France. Until now their exploits have escaped the attention of historians, but yesterday these veterans of World War Two stood proudly side by side after being awarded France’s highest decoration, the Legion d’Honneur. Courageous veterans are given France's highest honour for their vital role on D-Day in a ceremony at Yorkshire Air Museum, Left to Right: Gordon Collinson, Eric Gerald Briscoe, Thomas William Wright, Eric Gill, James Denwood and Catherine Rush who was accepting the Honour on behalf of her late husband Bernard Rush . Conducting the ceremony at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York, the French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann told the frail veterans: ‘I am here in recognition of your heroic accomplishments in the liberation of France and to honour your bravery and dedication.’ Aged between 90 and 99, they are among the first of 2,800 living veterans who will receive the Legion of Honour in the months to come. The decision was announced by French President Francois Hollande following last summer’s 70th anniversary celebrations and the ambassador said: ‘France will keep its promise.’ Although the memories are now fading, this group of humble soldiers - along with the widow of a veteran who died recently - couldn’t hide their pride as they received what will probably be the last medal of their extraordinary lives. Eric Gill (right), a veteran of the Burma campaign who landed on a beach in Normandy, pictured during the liberation of France . GERRY BRISCOE was a butcher when he joined up at 18, a year later he was putting his life on the line by storming a Normandy beach. It was his first ever action and a terrifying experience for a hardened veteran let alone a youngster. A sapper with the Royal Engineers, he owes his life to a stroke of luck. ‘On D-Day I should have been the last one in the boat to be the first one out because I was carrying a charge to blow up a pill box,’ he recalled. ‘I miscounted so I finished up the first one in the boat and so the last one out. The lad that got out the boat first drowned straight away because the boat went over him. There for the grace of God, I was saved.’. Battle was raging when Mr Briscoe reached shore and discovered the pill box had already been blown up by a shell, but there were chaotic scenes all around. ‘The Germans were still firing at us and there were shells firing all over the place and the rockets from the big main ships were going over to the Germans.’ He said: ‘You are frightened to death really, I remember it well.’ The teenager helped build a bridge in the days that followed and continued working on bridges and roads to help Allied troops as they headed for Germany. He was among the first troops into Brussels and recalled the local citizens coming out with bowls of warm water, because the soldiers were covered in dirt, and meat sandwiches. After the war he returned to working as a butcher. He married wife Jean, now 86, and the couple had two children. Mr Briscoe, 90, from Bradford, said of the honour: ‘I am very pleased about it. I have gone to France regularly over the years and received medals but this one is the top of the shop. France's highest award, the Legion of Honour, is pinned on James Denwood by Her Excellency Madame Sylvie Berman . The Legion of Honour medals for the five veterans aged between 90 and 99 who are among the first of 2,800 living veterans who will receive the Legion of Honour in the months to come . BILL WRIGHT was a fresh-faced 19-year-old recruit and D-Day was his first experience of warfare. ‘People don’t realise that for about half the forces on D-Day it was their first action,’ he said. Mr Wright said he recalled being extremely sea sick on the way over as the seas were choppy. He was on one of the American landing craft and remembered ‘the chap in charge was absolutely brilliant.’ ‘He was not much older than me and looked like a young President Kennedy. He was cool as a cucumber and put us ashore almost dry.’ Mr Wright was in the Staffordshire Yeomanry who came ashore in the ‘second wave’ of troops. Fortunately for him he was inside a tank – working as the radio operator and loader. His tank was stuck in a ‘traffic jam on the beach’ as there were few exits amid the fierce battle. ‘We were too busy to be frightened,’ he said. ‘Everybody was very conscious we were making history. As a young lad out of school it was a most terrific adventure.’ Mr Wright stayed in Normandy for two months before returning to England to re-train to work in amphibious tanks. In the winter of 1944 he saw further action in Holland and then moved into Germany in the final months of the war. ‘My tank was knocked out but fortunately none of us were hurt,’ he said. Her Excellency Madame Sylvi awarded Frances highest honour the Legion dHonneur at the Yorkshire Air Museum . After the war he married his childhood sweetheart Margaret. They had three children and he worked in forestry. Commenting on yesterday’s award, the 90-year-old widower from York said: ‘It’s a great honour, but there are far more deserving souls who didn’t get it.’ ERIC GILL was a veteran of the Burma campaign when he landed on a beach in Normandy. Later, when the action moved to Holland, he had an astonishing escape when shrapnel pierced his helmet and ‘scalped him.’ The Private with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry suffered a six inch wound on his head and couldn’t see for the blood streaming over his face, but he survived to tell the tale. Born in Doncaster and one of nine children, he left school at 14 to work down the pit. The teenage miner worked with the pit ponies. At 19, with the Nazi threat growing, he joined the army and was in Burma when war broke out. His wartime adventures saw him escape the horrors of the Burmese jungle by walking 400 miles to India, then travel to Australia with 1,000 Italian prisoners of war and on to New York before returning to ‘Blighty.’ He arrived in Normandy four days after D-Day and headed across mainland Europe on the push for victory. Mr Gill, 99, married wife Doris and had two children. He had various jobs, including being a plasterer and graveyard worker, before retiring. Gordon Collinson talks to his Air Cadet grandson Alfie Tomlinson at the award ceremony at the Yorkshire Air Museum . GORDON COLLINSON should have been in the relative safety of a tank when he landed on Gold Beach. Unfortunately, his tank broke down and couldn’t get off the landing craft. The 20-year-old tank driver was forced to wade ashore carrying his rifle around his head as bullets flew all around him. A man of small stature, the water was up to his nose at one point, but he was grabbed by his comrades and managed to survive the terrifying experience. He eventually found a tank to board so he could continue with his duties. Mr Collinson ended up battling his way across France and going into the heart of Germany during the final months of the war. He was among the Allied troops to reach Berlin in May 1945 after the Russians arrived first and witnessed the scenes of terrible devastation. After the war he married and had three children and spent the rest of his working life as a civil servant. He is now aged 91 and living in York. JAMES DENWOOD was lucky to survive the early stages of the war to take part in the Normandy invasion. He was on board the troopship and former Cunard liner the Lancastria when it was sunk in June 1940 as it evacuated exhausted soldiers from northern France. Around 5,000 died but Mr Denwood was among the lucky ones and survived. ‘It went down in 20 minutes,’ he recalled yesterday. ‘I was like a duck and had to swim.’ The veterans of World War Two stood proudly side by side after being awarded France’s highest decoration, the Legion d’Honneur . The Legion of Honour medals were awarded after an announcement by French President Francois Hollande following last summer’s 70th anniversary celebrations and the ambassador said: ‘France will keep its promise' He was a sapper in the Royal Engineers during the D-Day landings and was designated to work on a fuel pipeline - ensuring the Allied forces could maintain total air supremacy. He married wife Edith during the war and the eldest of his three children was born in 1944. When the fighting ended he returned to Cumbria to work in the quarries and eventually moved down to South Yorkshire to work in a steel works. He is now aged 97 and living in Mexborough, South Yorkshire. BERNARD RUSH was a chief petty officer in the navy and turned 21 five days before D-Day. He was an engineer whose job was to repair damaged vehicles. After the war he returned to working in the cotton mills at Silsden, West Yorkshire, and rose to become a manager. Mr Rush died last September aged 91 but the French government took the ‘exceptional’ decision to give the father-of-four the promised award posthumously. His widow Catherine, 83, collected it for him and said: ‘He would have been over the moon and so proud.’
target: Group are the first living veterans of 2,800 to receive the Legion of Honour .
  Now in their nineties, two were just teens when they helped liberate France .
  Medal was in recognition of their 'heroic accomplishments' and 'bravery'