'My final wish is to receive a D-Day medal'

Hero thought he was too young

- By Tom Bevan

ONE of Britain’s last D-Day heroes is in a “race against time” to get his final wish - a medal recognising his role in the historic invasion.

Don Butt, 100, joined the Royal Marines at just 17 — and for decades thought he was too young to qualify for the Legion d’honneur medal for his part in the Normandy landings.

A year after joining up he was part of the landing crew in the first wave at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. But his officers told him he was too young to disembark fully on to the beach.

Rejected