Defence Minister awards Czechoslovak war veteran in Britain

Defence Minister Jana Černochová has awarded Ervin Hoida, a World War II veteran who lives in Great Britain, with the Cross of Merit. At the age of 104, Mr Hoida is one of the last surviving Czechoslovak soldiers who fought on the Western Front, Mrs. Černochová wrote on her Twitter account.  .

Mr. Hoida, who was born in Ostrava in 1918, escaped Czechoslovakia after the Nazi occupation in 1939 and served in France and leter with the Czechoslovak armoured brigade in the UK.

After D-Day, he took part in the liberation of Europe. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945, but went back to the UK few months later due to the rising communist threat.