A French resistance fighter living in Teignmouth is to meet David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy to mark the 70th anniversary of General de Gaulle's historic appeal to his countrymen to rise up against the Nazi invader. Fernand Davoult, 89, is to meet the English prime minister and the French president at a ceremony the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, next Friday. In the evening he will attend a reception onboard the SS La Touche Treville in the presence of the French ambassador, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, and Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff. 'I was very surprised and happy and wish my mother was alive because she would be proud of me,' he told this newspaper. M Davoult is one of six surviving resistance fighters in this country. No stranger to honours and anniversaries, he appeared more concerned about friends who would not be there to join him. 'My friend in London who will be looking after us, an ex-Free French, had a big heart operation two weeks ago and won't be able to come. 'Another, a Free French, who lost all his family in Germany – I don't know whether he will be there, he's getting on, he's over 90.' M Sarkozy, the first foreign leader to be invited on an official visit to Britain after the election, has been keen to refocus attention on the resistance. This has led to some accusations of trying to making political capital out of the cause. M Davoult makes no secret that he ended up in the resistance more by accident than design. Left stranded in this country after his merchant vessel was seized by the British Navy, he was recruited to the Free French Navy. He vividly remembers being sent to Devonport to serve on the Surcouf, the biggest submarine in the French fleet, armed only 'with a slice of bread, a can of sardines and a bottle of wine'. Liz Feasby, manager of Westlands Retirement Home, where Fernand now lives, said: 'It is a huge honour. He is so proud to share this with everybody and says, "why does everyone make such a fuss?" but I think it is something to make a fuss about.'