French President Francois Hollande has appointed Tom Tugend, the veteran JC correspondent in Los Angeles, as Chevalier (Knight) in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, established by Napoleon in 1802.

The recognition is based on Mr Tugend’s service during the Second World War, when his US infantry regiment was attached to the First French Army during the bitter fighting against SS units defending the Colmar Pocket in Alsace.

Subsequently, Mr Tugend served as an American volunteer in Israel’s War of Independence and was a squad leader in the “Anglo-Saxon” 4th Anti-Tank unit.

He was recalled by the US Army in 1950 for the Korean conflict and was assigned as editor of an army newspaper in San Francisco.

Since the late 1960s, Mr Tugend, now 90, has reported for the JC on the Hollywood entertainment industry, politics, Jewish communities and personalities, the Olympic Games and on some of the more bizarre foibles of Californians.