Stars pay homage to war heroes who received the Victoria Cross and George Cross

Rifleman Tul Bahadur Pun VC, introduced by Joanna Lumley OBE

Joanna says: “My father showed me a photograph of Tul Bahadur Pun VC when I was six years old. We were sitting on the veranda of our army bungalow in Malaya and, although he never talked about the Chindit campaign in which he and Pun had served, he wanted to tell me about him: ‘This is one of the bravest men you will ever see,’ he said.”

Born in Nepal in March, 1923, Pun enlisted in the British Army in 1940 and after training was sent with his battalion, 3/6th Gurkha Rifles, to the Indian border with Burma – then occupied by the Japanese.

The Chindit campaign was designed to disrupt lines of communication in the country and in February, 1944, Pun was flown in behind enemy lines. On June 23 the regiment came under heavy fire as they moved to capture a bridge.

The whole of Pun’s section was wiped out with the exception of himself, his section commander and one other man. Leading a charge towards the source of the fire, both other men were mortally wounded but Pun carried on alone, seized the Bren gun and – firing from the hip as he went – continued the charge on the heavily bunkered position in the face of automatic fire directed straight at him.

Moving 30 yards over open ground and ankle-deep in mud he reached the position, killed three of the Japanese occupants, sent the other five fleeing and captured two light machine guns which he then used to give supporting fire to his platoon.

Says Joanna: “Years later, when my father had been dead for nine years, I met Mr Pun VC, just as our Gurkha Justice Campaign gained momentum.

“I wanted to give him something from my father and I remembered the little silver figure of a Gurkha piper which Daddy loved and left to me in his will.

“I knelt down beside Mr Pun’s wheelchair – by 2008 he was a frail old man – and gave him the little silver piper.

“When he heard that my father was dead he put his old hands on my head and said: ‘You are my daughter now.’ “A few months later we laid flowers at the Cenotaph together in the biting cold of a London winter. He was a legend and a hero and I am so proud and lucky to have known him. His selfless valour will live on for ever as an example of heroism beyond compare.”

Assistant Section Officer Daphne Pearson GC, introduced by Mary Berry CBE

Mary says: “There is something extraordinary about a person who will confront danger to help a loved one.

“I remember a photograph of a Swedish woman who was seen racing towards the tsunami of 2004 while everyone else was running, screaming, in the other direction.

“It transpired that her child was sitting on the beach and was in mortal danger.

“As amazing as that lady was, her actions are explicable on the grounds that she was acting on the instinctive love of a mother.

“The story of Daphne Pearson, however, tells of a woman who ran towards a burning ‘cauldron’ which was about to explode with no other motivation than to try to save the life of a complete stranger.”

Born in Hampshire in 1911, Corporal Daphne Pearson was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) at RAF Detling in Kent.

On May 31, 1940, she was awoken by the noise of an aircraft in trouble over the base. Grabbing her tin hat she ran outside and saw an aircraft smashing into trees. A guard shouted at Daphne to stop but she ran to the scene and saw what she later described as, “the fearsome sight of the plane on fire”.

Two crewmen were dragging another man out. Instructing them to leave him and get help she continued to pull the injured man away from the blaze by herself.

His face was covered in blood and he was moaning in pain. A tooth had pushed through his cheek so Daphne pulled it out.

“Full tank,” he tried to warn her. “Bombs,” he gasped. Without thinking she took off her tin hat and placed it over the serviceman’s head. She then laid herself over him to offer protection from the blast, digging her elbows into the ground.

At that moment a 120lb bomb went off and the plane exploded.

“All the air in my stomach was sucked out,” Daphne later recalled. She couldn’t see for a few hours but reported for duty the following morning. When she arrived for her shift the commanding officer of 500 Squadron and three other officers stood to attention and saluted her.

Winston Churchill announced in Parliament her award of the Empire Gallantry Medal (this was later changed to the George Cross when this superseded the award) and today her portrait hangs in the Imperial War Museum, London.

Petty Officer First Class William Hall VC, introduced by Frank Bruno MBE

Frank says: “As a child I wanted to be a world champion in my chosen sport of boxing. My sporting hero was Muhammad Ali but what I thought was hard work getting to the top of my chosen occupation is nothing compared to what William Hall VC did.

“My reward was financial and world recognition. His life was a story of courage winning against the odds, not for the medal or the recognition but because it was his duty.”

Hall, who was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1827, became the first black person to be awarded the Victoria Cross following his actions in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

The sailor was part of the Naval Brigade which had arrived to bolster the British forces following the massacre at Cawnpore, India, when 125 women and children were murdered at the British military base on November 21.

“The blood of the helpless women was still upon the walls,” Hall recalled of his arrival.

After defeating the mutineers, Hall’s brigade moved on to Lucknow, where a unit of British soldiers had been under siege for six weeks.

Hall, whose parents were former slaves, volunteered to help man a 24-pound gun in a bid to break through the city’s walls, despite being told it was a suicidal mission.

“I will take the chance, sir,” he replied. Within minutes the entire crew had been killed apart from Hall and a colleague who was wounded. Yet somehow he managed to operate the gun, despite continual fire.

Says Frank: “William used his strength and endurance to keep the cannon firing against overwhelming odds. It was a four-man job but William did it all alone after he witnessed the death of all his friends and with incoming rifle and artillery fire all around.

“A lesser person would have collapsed in a heap but William – who later joined the Navy, alone in race and nationality – kept going.”

And his courage paid off. He breached the wall and the waiting Highlanders were able to scramble inside as the mutineers fled.

“In the narrow story he was amazingly effective in keeping up the fire. In the wider story he must have inspired respect among his shipmates. Why else would they have recommended him for the Victoria Cross and promoted him to Petty Officer First Class? “William Hall VC ignored the abuse he must have suffered, showed what he was capable of and what kind of man he was.

“This makes him an inspiration to me and, I hope, to you too. His is a life of triumph.”

To pre-order On Courage: Stories Of Victoria Cross And George Cross Holders, by the Sebastapol Project (£20, published by Constable, May 17), with free UK delivery, call the Express Bookshop with your debit/credit card on 01872 562310. Alternatively send a cheque or PO made payable to Express Bookshop to: Constable Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ or order online at expressbookshop.co.uk l Proceeds will be donated to Combat Stress, and The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association.