ONE of the oldest surviving holders of Britain's ultimate award for valour was feted as the hero he is when he returned to his old school.

Richard Annand, 87 and from South Shields, south Tyneside, was the first man to win the Victoria Cross in the Second World War.

As a Second Lieutenant with the Durham Light Infantry, he was serving by the River Dyle, south-east of Brussels, on May 16, 1940.

The platoon he was commanding fought against a German attack on a bridge the British had destroyed, but when ammunition ran out, he ran forward over open ground, under heavy fire, and drove the enemy away with hand grenades.

He was wounded, but having had his wounds dressed, he resumed command, and at the next attack went forward alone again, inflicting heavy casualties with grenades.

When his platoon withdrew, he discovered his batman was missing so he went back to the thick of the battle and brought the man back in a wheelbarrow before losing consciousness as a result of his wounds.

As a boy, he was a boarder at Pocklington School in East Yorkshire where fellow old boy Major Roger Chapman, of the Green Howards Museum at Richmond, recently gave a lecture on the history of the VC.

He told school head Nicholas Clements about Mr Annand and his exploits - and immediately the school invited him and his wife, Shirley, back for a special lunch

To honour the school's courageous old boy, a permanent display case has now been erected, complete with a replica VC, a picture of him in wartime uniform and the citation from the London Gazette on August 23, 1940.

Artist Jack Daniel, a friend and contemporary of Mr Annand at school, also created a picture of the wheelbarrow incident.

That has now been turned into a bas-relief by art teacher Peter Edwards and cast in bronze, and will be incorporated into the school's new art centre.