He's one of Australia's most celebrated heroes of the First World War, but he was born and bred in the North-East. On the 90th anniversary of his death, Gavin Havery looks at the man who had an instinctive way with animals and who they say deserved a VC.

BULLETS pinged off sun-beaten rocks in the dry dusty trenches of Gallipoli as a soldier and hisa donkey calmly walked up from the foot of the path known as Shrapnel Gully. Amid the rattle of heavy machine gun fire and exploding artilleries, he led his beast to the scores of wounded Australians felled by the Turks.

John "Simpson" Kirkpatrick is said to have saved more than 300 soldiers by venturing into No Man's Land to rescue the wounded and dying. In the process, he became one of Australia's greatest war heroes, although he was born in South Shields.

This week marked the 90th anniversary of his death after just 24 days in Turkey but it was enough to make him a legend. According to Arthur Lockyear, organiser of the recent Gallipoli Memorial Service and the VE Day celebrations in South Shields: "John Kirkpatrick is one of South Shields' most gallant sons and has brought great credit to his town and the North-East by saving so many lives and becoming one of Australia's most iconic heroes.

"He was prepared to risk all to save his mates, whether he knew them or not. Any rescue is worth a pat on the back but he exceeded all of that."

Kirkpatrick was born in South Eldon Street, South Shields, on July 6, 1892. Each summer he worked at Murphy's Fair, providing donkey rides for children, and he seemed to have an instinctive attachment with the animals. They responded well to his gentle manner.

When he was 17, Jack answered the call of the sea and sailed from the Tyne on the SS Heighington, spending the next three months in the Mediterranean before returning home for Christmas in 1909.

He joined the crew of the Yedda on February 12, 1910, and sailed for Newcastle, Australia, working as a stoker in the ship's engine room. He jumped ship when he got there but three weeks after the outbreak of war, four years later, he enlisted. He was hoping he might get a free trip back to England, where the Anzacs were destined to do their basic training, but instead they were diverted to Egypt.

Prior to joining up, he dropped Kirkpatrick and took on Simpson as his surname. Had he been discovered as an absconder from the Merchant Navy, he may not have been accepted into the army.

He was nominated as a stretcher bearer, and exactly eight months after enlisting, landed at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli with C section, 3rd Field Ambulance, 1st Australian Division, of the Australian Imperial Force.

Of the 1,500 men in that first wave into the cove, only 755 remained in active service at the end of the day. The rest were killed or wounded. Those who were left were badly affected by the shortage of food and water in the blistering heat.

There was also an acute shortage of stretchers, medical equipment, supplies and stretcher bearers. As the Anzac forces tried to push inland, and casualties mounted, the stretcher bearers were given the task of bringing the wounded back from the forward lines to the cove, where they could be treated and evacuated to the offshore fleet.

"Simpson" relied on his faithful donkeys and would start his day as early as 6.30am and often work until 3am the following morning.

He made the one and a half mile trip, through sniper fire and shrapnel, numerous times every day, and would leave his donkey under cover whilst he went forward to rescue an injured man.

On the return journey he would bring water for the wounded. Simpson never hesitated or stopped, even when subjected to the most vicious fire.

Brigadier Charles Brand, in command of the 3rd Infantry Battalion and the first Australian to be awarded the Distinguished Service Order during the Gallipoli campaign, said: "Almost every Digger knew about him. The question was often asked: 'Has the bloke with the donk stopped one yet?' It seemed incredible that anyone could make that trip up and down Monash Valley without being hit. Simpson escaped death so many times that he became completely fatalistic."

The Indian troops had brought mules to haul their artillery and had plenty of fodder. Simpson set up camp with them, slept and ate with them and was idolised by them. The Indians called him Bahadur, "the bravest of the brave". To the other troops he was known less poetically as Scotty, Murphy, Simmie, and "the man with the donk".

Simpson was frequently warned of the dangers he was facing. When a Captain Buchanan took over as Simpson's commanding officer, he officially warned Simpson of the grave risks he was taking. Simpson's reply was "my troubles", and he continued with his work.

In his comprehensive history of Australia's involvement in the First World War, Glorious Deed of Australia in the Great War, EC Buley notes that Simpson often acted against orders: "When the fire down the valley was at its worst and orders were posted that the ambulance men must not go out, the Man and the Donkey continued placidly their work. At times they held trenches of hundreds of men spell-bound, just to see them at their work.

"Their quarry lay motionless in an open patch, in easy range of a dozen Turkish rifles. Patiently, the little donkey waited under cover, while the man crawled through the thick scrub until he was within striking distance. Then a lightning dash, and he had the wounded man on his back and was making for cover again. In those fierce seconds he always seemed to bear a charmed life."

But on May 19, 1915, at 03:00 hours the Turks mounted a major counter-offensive, with 45,000 Turkish troops attacking all along the front line with orders to drive the enemy into the sea. By 11am, 8,000 Turks lay dead and wounded in no-man's land without capturing a single section of trench. The great assault had finished and failed, the Turks withdrew.

It was during the final stages of the attack that Simpson made his way up the gully towards Courtney's Post where the fighting had been most furious. It was his habit to stop at the water guard and have breakfast. On this particular day he was too early and breakfast wasn't ready.

"Never mind," said Simpson as he continued on his way. "Get me a good dinner when I come back."

Simpson made his way to the front and picked up a wounded man, placed him on his donkey, and made his way towards the beach. Moments later the Turkish machine gun opened fire, and Simpson was hit in the back. The bullet passed out the front of his stomach, killing him instantly. The force of the bullet picked him up and threw him face down in the dirt.

The wounded man on the donkey was hit a second time and as he grasped the donkey's neck, he passed out. The donkey, frightened, and still with the wounded man on his back, ran down to its usual destination where Padre Bush-King helped lift the man off.

Padre George Green, who led Simpson's burial service, later said: "I often remember the scene I saw frequently in Shrapnel Gully, that cheerful soul calmly walking down the gully with a Red Cross armlet tied round the donkey's head. That gully was under direct fire from the enemy almost all the time. If ever a man deserved the Victoria Cross it was Simpson."

Simpson never got a Victoria Cross, but by saving hundreds of lives over the first bloody weeks of the Gallipoli campaign, he earned something much more valuable: the gratitude of a nation. Few Australians may know he was not from Down Under at all, but he is still a national hero. To them, he is just "the bloke with the donk".