D-Day hero to receive freedom of county honour

A D-Day veteran is to be honoured with the Freedom of Derbyshire.

Albert Keir was part of the naval crew that ferried US troops on to Utah Beach in France during the pivotal World War Two operation on 6 June 1944.

The 99-year-old, from Bakewell, was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour (Legion d'honneur) by the French government in 2015, the highest French order of merit for military and civilian personnel.

Now Derbyshire county councillors have voted unanimously to agree in principle to bestow the honour on Mr Keir in recognition of his service and life achievements at a special meeting early next year.

The veteran, who will be 100 next summer, had been working as a painter and decorator after leaving school at the age of 14 and was a member of the Local Defence Volunteers when war broke out in 1939.

In 1943 he joined the Navy, where as a seaman he carried out general ship and gunnery duties on the Flower class corvette HMS Potentilla.

He was discharged slightly before the war ended in 1945 as part of a "category B" discharge, offered to those in the construction trade who could repair and build houses ready for the massive amount of people coming home at once.

During the 1950s, he began working as a painter and decorator for Derbyshire County Council, where he spent the majority of his working life until he retired in 1990, aged 65.

He said: "I was very pleasantly surprised and thrilled to be considered for such an honour and would be extremely proud to accept it.

"I would like to thank everybody involved in the process and for putting my name forward."

Mr Keir's son Andrew Keir, whose mother Dorothy was married to Albert for 66 years until her death in 2019, told the BBC his dad was "absolutely astonished" to be offered the Derbyshire honour.

"I think he was one of those people who had just had enough of the war when it finished, but you find like-minded people and you start talking a little bit more about it," he said.

Albert remains an active member of the Royal British Legion's social calendar and is one of the longest serving poppy sellers in the country.

He now lives in a residential home where Andrew says he "still perfectly looks after himself".

"He's thriving and he's getting out quite a lot," he said.

"Following the D-Day celebrations in Normandy this year he's been invited [to events] left right and centre, he gets a better social life than I do. He does try and keep himself busy.

"The British Legion at Bakewell and the armed forces veterans breakfast club, they always send somebody out and fetch him for meetings and breakfast and outings.

"A lot of the veterans, they make a bit of a fuss of him when he's out and he absolutely loves it.

"He would like to thank anybody who has been involved in putting him forward for this great honour. But he's always just seen it that he's doing his bit. You had a job to do during the war and you got on with it.

"I'm proud as punch."

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