Norwegian WW II veteran Joachim Rønneberg, also called the last hero of Telemark, and the man who helped stop Hitler's A-bomb, was Thursday honored for his war-time efforts at a ceremony in the UK.
Rønneberg (93) is the last surviving member of a Norwegian group of saboteurs who blew up the Vemork heavy water plant in Telemark during World War II, in an operation which has been described as the most daring and important undercover operation of WW II.
On Thursday he returned to London to lay a wreath at the memorial on the Embankment to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the organisation Winston Churchill had tasked with carrying out undercover operations in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Ronneberg had fled Norway for Britain when the Nazis had invaded, but was determined to return and fight.
He was summoned to an office of the Special Operations Executive in London and asked to undertake the special mission.
After the war, a movie "The Heros of Telemark" was made of the operations, starring Kirk Douglas.
Present at Thursday's ceremonies to mark the anniversary were the head of Norway's armed forces and its defence minister.
Mr Ronneberg received a flag which had flown over the Houses of Parliament.
It was a reminder, he says, of the time during the war when he looked up at it flying over Westminster.
The colours had reminded him of his own flag and the fact Britain offered the best hope of freedom for his homeland.
"We felt very much that we had a big debt to Britain," he tells BBC reporter Gordon Corera.
"They received us, they trained us and they helped us. This operation wasn't Norwegian or British at all. It was an Allied operation," Rønneberg said to the BBC.
(NRK/BBC)
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