While pinning the medal on Mr Sope at a ceremony in Dili, the East Timor President Taur Matan Rauk, a former guerilla fighter against the Indonesian military, thanked him for his support during the struggle for independence.
He told Mr Sope that while fighting in the mountains he heard the Vanuatu politician's voice coming across the ocean.
Mr Sope said to support a people's struggle without setting foot in the country is one thing, but to actually go there after the country had become free from colonial rule was a totally new experience.
