Sault man receives special honour from France (3 photos)

For his part in liberating France from Nazi tyranny over 70 years ago, the Sault’s Fred Middleton received the French Legion of Honour Medal at a ceremony held Wednesday at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25.

In an initiative that began in 2014, the French government has awarded several Legion of Honour Medals to Allied soldiers who helped liberate France.

"I was surprised (upon being informed he would receive the medal)," Middleton told reporters at Wednesday's ceremony.

Middleton is the third Sault veteran to receive the French Legion of Honour Medal, after Ed Bedard (now deceased) and Kenneth Hocken.

"It was really nice of them (the French government) to do this," Middleton said.

Middleton went ashore at Normandy with Canadian troops in the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia before he eventually settled in Sault Ste. Marie after the Second World War, Middleton joined the Canadian army in 1943 and served with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.

On D-Day, Middleton went ashore from a landing craft at Juno Beach (one of five beaches where the Allies gained a foothold on June 6, 1944, and the one to which Canadian troops were specifically assigned).

In an earlier conversation with SooToday, Middleton recalled carrying a heavy pack of military gear, avoiding bullets from enemy snipers and wading ashore through choppy water.

Middleton's unit advanced 14 miles that day, but he was wounded by a shell fragment in one of his legs in battle and sent back to England for surgery.

"There was a well-known Montreal surgeon who really saved my leg…they asked me to go back again, so I went back a second time and we ended up 75 miles from Paris," Middleton said.

Middleton volunteered to join the army and go to battle, as there was no conscription of Canadian troops until late 1944.

Despite the horrific memories of war, Middleton said he would do it again to fight for freedom.

"If I was young again, I wouldn't think twice, I'd go."

Middleton, now 92, moved to the Sault with his English war bride (Iris, to whom he has been married for over 70 years) in 1947.

He worked at Algoma Steel until his retirement in the early 1980s.

The Middletons have two sons, Roy and Brian, and three grandchildren.

The Middletons have visited France once since the war, in 2013.

"They were good to us in France," Middleton said.

Allied forces successfully established a beachhead on the French coast on D-Day, and a year of vicious fighting followed.

Canadians and their allies pushed through western Europe and eventually into Germany itself, and the Nazis surrendered in May, 1945.

Allied casualties on D-Day exceeded 10,000, including 359 Canadians killed in action.

The subsequent Battle of Normandy resulted in more than 18,700 Canadians killed and wounded.

More than 43,000 Canadians lost their lives in the Second World War.

23,000 of those Canadians killed served in the army, 17,000 in the air force, 2,000 in the navy and another 1,600 in the merchant navy. 

54,000 Canadians were wounded.