D-Day cafe owner honoured by French Order of Merit

Arlette Gondree hosts an annual service of remembrance for veterans at the Cafe Gondree in Benouville, Normandy

The owner of a café near the site of the first action of the D-Day landings has been given the French order of merit at a ceremony in Normandy.

Arlette Gondree, who splits her time between France and Warwickshire, has been recognised for her work commemorating the events of World War Two.

Madame Arlette, as she is known by veterans, hosts an annual service of remembrance at the Cafe Gondree in Benouville, Normandy, and is a former patron of the Birmingham Normandy Veterans Association.

Her family became the first to be liberated from the Germans in June 1944.

Madame Arlette said she was "honoured" to be named a Chevalier of France’s National Order of Merit at a ceremony at the historic Pegasus Bridge near Benouville in northern France.

She was four when British troops entered the family café, ending their occupation.

Pegasus Bridge, in Normandy, was the centre point of Operation Tonga on D-Day

Her parents, Georges and Thérèse, had been members of the French Resistance, gleaning information from the Germans who used the café and passing it on to British intelligence.

Shortly after liberation her father dug up champagne he had hidden in his garden, offering it to the Allied troops.

Madame Arlette, who now spends much of her year in Warwickshire, said: "I feel very, very honoured and pleased.

"It shows the affection they have for me and the respect."

Margaret Brotheridge's father, from Smethwick, is believed to have been the first man to have died on the bridge during an offensive on D-Day.

She has become friends with Madame Arlette, who used to lay flowers at his grave near the café.

Speaking about the award, she said: "She deserves it, it's wonderful."