PRAGUE (AP) — The president of the Czech Republic has congratulated a Briton who organized mass evacuations of children to save them from Nazi concentration camps and announced he will award him the highest Czech state decoration.

In a letter released Monday on Sir Nicholas Winton’s 105th birthday, President Milos Zeman tells Winton that the extraordinary story of his life is an example of humanity, selflessness, personal bravery and modesty.

Zeman says he will award Winton the Order of the White Lion on Oct. 28 and invited him to receive it in Prague.

Winton arranged eight trains to carry 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia through Germany to Britain at the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Czechs have repeatedly nominated Winton for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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