GREAT-GRANDAD John Wells who was part of an RAF squadron that helped protect allied forces as they took part in the D-Day landings has been honoured for his action by the President of France.

Mr Wells, 96, who is West Lavington born and bred, has been appointed to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre national del la Legion d'honneur by Francois Hollande.

But this week Mr Wells, who now lives at the BUPA care home in Market Lavington, did not want to be called a hero. He said: "Don't make it too flowery. It is not the RAF way."

Mr Wells, who was married to his beloved late wife Norah for more than 70 years, did not want the fuss of going to an official ceremony to receive his medal but instead opted to have it arrive in the post.

He is a former chairman and president of West Lavington British Legion and in his younger years was a keen cricketer and footballer. He was still playing cricket at 60 although he admitted by then he had to field in the slips as he could no longer run too much.

The former Devizes Secondary School pupil joined the RAF as a volunteer in 1939 and was then called up the following year. He joined in Blackpool just in time to celebrate his 21st birthday in the busy seaside town. He said: "It was very different to Devizes. Until then I had hardly left Wiltshire apart from a couple of trips to London."

He was sent for training in Canada and later Miami and originally hoped to become a pilot but instead qualified as a navigator and observer. He became part of 547 squadron and the crew of Wellingtons and later the American heavy bombers Liberators flying sorties along the coast to the Bay of Biscay.

Just before D Day he was posted to Cornwall and over a two week period as the troops landed on the beaches he and the rest of the crew flew daily missions along the French coast looking for German U-boats.

He said: "It was pretty quiet for us. There were not many U-boats, or killers as we called them, about."

He is reluctant to talk up his role but did admit that it was his job to get his crew home safely and he succeeded on every mission he undertook. He took part in around 400 operations and flew 1200 operational hours and each time his aircraft returned. He said: "We did get hit but not too seriously and I think we got away by escaping into the cloud."

He and Norah were married in her home area of Nottingham in April, 1944. They had a son and a daughter, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A fifth is expected in June.

Mr Wells worked for the old Devizes Rural District Council and then for Kennet District Council in the housing department.