John Cruickshank is the last living recipient to have been awarded the Victoria Cross for action in the Second World War. As the 24-year-old captain and pilot of a Catalina flying boat, he was severely injured while engaging – and sinking – a German U-boat in June 1944. "By pressing home [a] second attack in his gravely wounded condition and continuing his exertions on the return journey with his strength failing all the time, he seriously prejudiced his chance of survival even if the aircraft safely reached its base," reads his citation.Picture: Ian Jones/The Telegraph

Credit : Ian Jones/The Telegraph