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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, January 14, 2016 | 6 `Knight' faced `smell of death,' enemy and victims continued from p.1 During a Sunday ceremony at Glen Abbey United Church Kersey was of cially awarded the rank of Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour. The Legion of Honour is the highest National Order of France. "It's very humbling," said Kersey. "It's a surprise after 70 years. Seventy years ago, I was bouncing around the roads of France on my motorcycle." Kersey is among approximately 1,000 Canadians who will receive the award over the course of a campaign by the French government to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy. Kersey, a native of Hampton, Ontario, arrived in Normandy about a month after D-Day on July 10, 1944. He and other members of his unit came ashore at Juno Beach in the dead of night and from there moved inland toward the front. "We went from Caen to Falaise. The ghting was erce. The losses on both sides were terrible, both men and equipment," said Kersey. "I was going night and day on the bike... I guess I went for about three weeks without undressing. I would be sent out, come back and report in. I would snatch a few hours sleep here and there, but you couldn't undress because you would be called and sent out again. I might get two or three hours sleep or half an hour. You never knew." Given the momentum of the battles, Kersey said, the headquarters would move frequently and it was not always where he thought it would be. That said, Kersey noted he was always able to nd his objective and never had to return to the front to report their message had gone undelivered. As a dispatch rider Kersey knew the Germans would target him if they could to break down the lines of communication between the front and the rear. Enemy snipers on the hunt for high value targets were one danger he worried about. "Every day you'd go out, you didn't know if you were coming back," said Kersey. "You've got to put that in the back of your mind otherwise you'd never accomplish anything." While Kersey was able to stay out of harm's way, other soldiers were not so lucky. He remembers one day in France, where German ghters attacked the headquarters he was at, stra ng a truck full of soldiers and killing several. Soon after the attack, Kersey discovered a British dispatch rider shaking in a nearby ditch. He noted the British soldier had been riding his motorcycle behind the truck that was attacked. Shrapnel had exploded off the truck and narrowly missed the rider, slicing his lip. Following the Allied victory at the Battle of Caen, the majority of the German forces in Normandy were encircled and destroyed in what became known as the Falaise Pocket. Kersey struggled to describe the scene of carnage following that battle. "It was awful. The smell of death was everywhere," he said. "Seeing the destroyed vehicles, theirs and ours, all along the road. We learned very quickly that's what war is all Spotlight "Connected to your Community" It was awful. The smell of death was everywhere. Seeing the destroyed vehicles, theirs and ours, all along the road. We learned very quickly that's what war is all about. Second World War veteran Edward (Ted) Kersey, Second World War veteran Edward (Ted) Kersey, 92, was of cially awarded the rank of Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour during a ceremony last Sunday at Glen Abbey United Church. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) about." The area was also littered with dead bodies. The image of a German soldier whose corpse was hanging halfway out of a second story window of a house is something that has stuck with Kersey to this day. Following the ghting in France, Kersey's unit made its way to Belgium where he had a close encounter near the city of Antwerp. The motorcycle enthusiast had grown fond of using a tunnel in the area that went under the Scheldt River. Besides giving him access to the other side of the river, he enjoyed entering the tunnel and revving the engine of his Norton motorcycle to hear the roar. "This day I roared up to the tunnel and there were two members of the Belgian underground holding ri es and they stopped me," said Kersey. "They let me know the Germans had taken the other end of the tunnel and it was not wise to go through." Following Antwerp's liberation, Kersey participated in the see Second on p.8 Volume 54 | Number 4 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. 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