A 95-year-old war hero has been awarded France's highest military honour for his part in the D-Day landings.

Herbert Thorpe, from Long Eaton in Derbyshire, was part of a Royal Navy crew that created a smokescreen so German forces could not see the Allied fleet approaching the shores of Normandy in 1944.

Decades later he has been awarded the Legion d'Honneur by the French, who thanked him for his dedication to the cause.

Mr Thorpe said: "I never would have thought people would be so interested. It's surprised me and I bless everybody."