Medal of honour posthumously awarded to Bishops Tachbrook war hero

Howard Rose, 91, died on June 22 but his family have received a Ordre national de la Legion d’honneur (Legion of Honour) medal thanking him for fighting and risking his life in France in the 1940s.

Having lived in Bishops Tachbrook for most of his life, Mr Rose spent his later years at Bromson Hill Nursing Home in Ashorne where he spoke to the Courier at a commemorative street party event in June 2014 held around the time of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in which he took part.

He said: “I was shooting. I don’t remember an awful lot, but I remember us being up to our chests in water on the beach.

“The memories come back sometimes when I am dreaming. I dream a lot.”

Mr Rose joined the Royal Marines at the age of 18 and started off as a sniper training in Scotland and Portsmouth,

He was 20 by the time D-Day took place and by the end of the war he had earned three medals.

When he left the army, the father-of-three got a job at AP Lockheed in Leamington where he spent his entire working life.

Away from work, Mr Rose was a keen coarse fisherman.

Those veterans to receive the Legion of Honour Medal were also given a letter from the French Embassy in London which says: “As we contemplate a Europe of peace we must never forget heroes like you, who came from Britain and the Commonwealth to begin the liberation of Europe by liberating France.

“We owe our freedom and security to your dedication because you were ready to risk your life.”