On June 27, 1942, Newcastle-born Adam Wakenshaw was seriously injured but continued to fight until he was killed by the enemy
For boys growing up on Tyneside in the 1940s and 50s, he was was much a playground hero as Roy Rogers, Dan Dare or Jackie Milburn.
On this day 75 years ago, Private Adam Wakenshaw made the ultimate sacrifice, and was killed in action fighting for his country in World War II.
In the process, Pte Wakenshaw would earn a posthumous VC, the British armed forces' highest award for bravery.
since 1857 the medal - with its simple inscription 'For Valour' - has been presented just, 1,358 times.
As the war slips from living memory, Adam Wakenshaw remains an all-time hero and is one of Newcastle's greatest ever sons.
He was born in Duke Street, Elswick, in 1914, the youngest of six children.
After leaving school he worked at Elswick pit and, aged 18, married Dorothy Ann Douglass in 1932.
They went on to have three children, including a son John who was killed in a road accident, aged just seven.
In World War II, Pte Wakenshaw served in the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.
In the early morning light of June 27, 1942 he found himself in Mersa Matruh, Egypt.
After the fall of Tobruk, the DLI was part of a defence line facing the formidable german Afrika Korps and their Italian allies.
The Geordie was manning a 20-pounder tank gun with crew when the Germans attacked with insane mortar and shell fire.
Pre Wakenshaw's gun knocked out one enemy artillery vehicle, but it was hit when another German mobile gun opened fire, killing all the British gunner crew apart from himself and Pre Eric Mohn.
But incredibly, as the Germans began to advance, Pte Wakenshaw dragged himself to the gun and fired five more rounds, destroying another enemy vehicle.
A second enemy shell threw him away from the gun again and seriously wounded him even further, while Pte Mohn was killed.
For a second time, a badly disfigured Pte Wakenshaw managed to drag himself back to the gun.
But as he loaded another round and prepared to fire, he was killed instantly when his ammunition store suffered a direct hit. He was only 28 years old.
His heroic efforts, however, gave his comrades time to escape.
Pte Wakenshaw was buried where he fell and was awarded a posthumous VC.
His widow Dorothy and son Thomas were presented with the medal at Buckingham Palace by King George VI.
Meanwhile, at El Alamein, Montgomery's forces would soon inflict the first major defeat on Rommel's Afrika Korps.
In 1943, Pte Wakenshaw's body was re-buried in El Alamein Cemetery in Egypt with full military honours.
Today, there is a stained-glass window in memory of Adam in St Mary's Cathedral in Newcastle, while the city's Wakenshaw Junction is named after the great man.
On the 75th anniversary of his heroic death, we recall Adam Wakenshaw and salute the bravery of all those who fought and died for the freedoms and way of life we take for granted today.