Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2016 | Page 35

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Interview

“COOKIE” Neil is 98 and

not out
It reads like something from an adventure story: a
humble baker from the Isle of Wight being presented
with France’s highest military honour. But this is fact
and not fiction, for this summer saw 98 year-old naval
veteran Neil Shutler receive the Legion D’Honneur for his
part in the liberation of France during WW2.
As one of the men who took part in the D-Day landings
of June 1944, ship’s cook Neil received the rare honour
as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations, when
French President Francois Hollande pledged to honour
all the surviving British veterans who took part in the
historic campaign.
It arrived at his home in Newport in July as a total
surprise to the proud ex-Navy man, but his large family
had been in on the secret, as eldest son Paul, 76, had
supplied information to the local British Legion about his
dad’s wartime service record.
Neil – known to his shipmates as ‘Cookie’ - was serving
on the French-Canadian vessel HMS Oranaise in 1944.
He has hair-raising memories of towing a vessel from
Dover on very rough seas, and of it pitching so much
that the crew could see down its funnel. In the end, they
had to cut it loose and ditch it for their own safety.
He also recalls the trauma of his Portsmouth barracks

Photo: Neil pictured Newport 2015
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