Czech Dunkirk veteran awarded France’s highest honour

Josef Turek, a Czech veteran of the Second World War battles at Dunkirk, has received France’s highest state decoration, the Legion of Honour. The award was presented on Wednesday in Olomouc by French Ambassador Stéphane Crouzat, the Czech Defence Ministry said.

Now 99 years old, Turek is believed to be the last surviving Czech participant in the Battle of Dunkirk. He received the decoration in the rank of knight.

Conscripted into the German army at the age of 18 in 1944, Turek was sent to the Western Front in France. After being captured by American forces, he joined the Czechoslovak army abroad and later served as a tank crew member of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade during the Allied siege of the port of Dunkirk in the final months of the war, continuing the fight against Nazi Germany.