There was a very special package in the post for one Abergavenny resident this Christmas.

David Fothergill Edwards of Knoll Road has been awarded France’s highest honour, the Legion d’honneur, for his role in liberating the country in the Second World War.

During events to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day in June 2014, the French government announced that it was going to recognise the selfless acts of heroism and determination displayed by all surviving veterans of the Normandy landings, and of the wider campaigns to liberate France.

Now in his 90s, Mr Edwards was among the surviving veterans who travelled to Normandy for the anniversary and he was overwhelmed to receive the medal a week ago. But his delight was tinged with sadness for the colleagues he had lost - both in military service and in more recent times.

“He was very emotional and said he had lost a lot of good friends and that the medal was dedicated to all of them,” said his son Chris.

Born in Abergavenny, Private Edwards served with the 53rd Welsh Infantry Division and became a proud member of the Normandy Veterans Association.

After the war he served with Gwent police for 30 years, rising to the rank of sergeant. But his links with Normandy - and one village in particular - were rekindled 30 years ago and have grown in strength ever since.

It was a connection that he shared with an army comrade who later became a well-known local businessman, Tom Griffiths.

On June 6 1944 130,000 troops set off from the south coast of England to land on the beaches of Normandy, heralding the start of Operation Overlord.

First an air-based landing took place very early in the morning, with both British and American troops being parachuted in to occupied France, followed by a sea-based invasion at 6.30am.

Despite heavy loss of life (50,000 in Calvados alone), it was the turning point of the Second World War in western Europe.

After making their way inland, Private Edwards and his comrades were dug in an orchard at Mondrainville where he found an abandoned photograph of a house. For some reason he decided to slip it into his battledress and he kept it through the war.

Soon afterwards he was wounded on Hill 112 at Caen and sent home, but he recovered from his injuries and was sent back to his battalion, fighting through Holland and Belgium then being shipped out to the Italian/Yugoslavian border as part of the peace keeping force. Eventually he was demobbed in 1946 - and he married his wife Diana in 1949.

But 40 years after D-Day, still with the photograph he’d found in the orchard in Mondrainville, he went back there and tried to find the house.

He eventually came across it by accident and struck up a friendship with the then Monsieur Jean-Louis Le Goff, whose family home it just happened to be.

“He used to go over regularly after that,” said Chris. “He’s become a bit of a celebrity there.

“In fact the local school is named Ecole Edwards Griffiths after my father and his friend Tom. It’s the only school in France that’s named after two infantrymen.”

Exchange visits were set up between Ecole Edwards Griffiths and initially Harold Road School in Abergavenny - more recently with Llanyravon School.

“He wanted very much to keep the connection between the French and Welsh children going. And some parents in France want their children to attend that school specifically because of that connection.

“The letter he received with the medal says we should contact the French consul in Cardiff. Our aim will be to take him back to France next summer and have the medal presented to him at the school.”