A WAR veteran has been awarded the Royal British Legion's highest honour for years of dedication to York's ex-service community.

Ted Griffiths, 83, president of the Legion's York branch and its Poppy Appeal organiser, was presented with the National Certificate of Appreciation.

Ted vowed to join the Legion after he fought in the Second World War and witnessed the deaths of many friends and colleagues.

He said: "I made myself a promise that should I survive the war, to do all I could to help those who were suffering hardship, to help the widows and children of the men who had died."

Ted was called up in 1939 and served in Belgium with the Royal Artillery in 1940. He was evacuated from Dunkirk on a fishing boat, and served in North Africa with the First Army from 1942. His proudest moment was receiving the MBE in 1997.

He said: "I'm delighted and very proud to receive this award, but it's not just about being a member of the Legion. It's about working hard for the ex-service community."

Ted moved to York from Birmingham in 1946 after being demobbed in Palestine. He worked for Road Haulage Transport until 1951, when he became company secretary for an agricultural engineering company. Now he lives in Hempland Lane with his wife, Mary. The pair have a son, David, daughter, Christine, and four grandchildren. Ted admits to keeping a keen eye upon the recent events in the Gulf.

He said: "I'm in support of any war where atrocities to the human nature are concerned. But it's different for today's soldiers, they are trained professionally, I was a civilian and conditions were very different back then."

Updated: 10:22 Saturday, April 12, 2003