A PORTSKEWETT war hero who dodged bullets as he drove supplies to the front line has been awarded the Legion d’Honneur for his role in the D-Day landings

Ainsley Thomas, 90, who is originally from the Rhondda, served as a private in the Royal Army Service Corps 1681 artillery platoon during the Second World War.

In his role in the landings, Mr Thomas transported petrol and even troops to the front line amid heavy enemy fire.

Called up in January 1944, he did his training in Newcastle at the age of 18 – having never left home before.

Mr Thomas went on to serve in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and was demobbed as a staff sergeant in 1947.

Upon returning home, he worked as a crane driver in Newcastle before returning to South Wales to work as a foreman in Llanwern Steelworks in Newport and as a bus driver in Chepstow.

He married his wife of 61 years, Barbara Thomas, 80, at Porth Congregational Church in the Rhondda in 1954 and they couple went on to have two sons, Andrew and Stephen.

Poignantly, Mrs Thomas’s brother, Lawrence Cooper, a friend of Mr Thomas’s, was killed during the D-Day landings while serving with the Welsh Regiment at the age of 19.

After suffering a stroke in April, Mr Thomas has since been cared for at Chepstow Community Hospital and the Royal Gwent Hospital

Currently, he is not well enough to attend a ceremony to receive his Legion d’Honneur, which was established by French leader Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and is the highest decoration in France.

Instead, the award arrived by post, with a personalised letter from the French consulate, and Mrs Thomas said the medal has lifted her husband’s spirits in a difficult time for the family.

She said: “He actually asked me about it yesterday so I’ll going to take it into him to show him again. He was very proud to have it – he said he earned it.

“He wasn’t a man to show off, but when he knew he was getting this medal he was quite excited He would have had a proper ceremony but because he was in hospital, he couldn’t have a proper ceremony as he was in hospital but when he’s better, if he wants a ceremony, he can have one.”

She added: “He’s only begun talking about it all in the past 10 years, as he didn’t think anyone would be interested

“They were droving in a convoy and there would just be this white spot to keep an eye on to keep up with the convey. Often, a lot of them would fall asleep.

“They used to say he would drive so fast that he would miss the bullets.”