Dennis Donnini

100 North East Heroes

Born: Easington Colliery, County Durham, November 17 1925. Died: January 18, 1945.

Dennis Donnini was the youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross in the Second World War.

Yet even as he won the top award for gallantry, his family in the North were forced by the British authorities to move for security reasons.

For Dennis's dad Alfredo Donnini was an Italian who arrived in the country in 1899. He settled with wife Catherine Brown in Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery, which snakes down to the sea and it was feared he might signal to enemy ships.

Dennis, who stood just 4ft 10 in tall, joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers. On January 18, 1945, the Fusiliers led an assault on German positions between the rivers Roer and Maas in northern Holland. Fusilier Donnini's platoon came under intense fire, and he was knocked unconscious by a ricocheting bullet that hit him on the head, drawing blood.

He came round after a few minutes, and charged down a road so that he could throw a grenade into the window of a house, causing the Germans to flee as the British gave chase. One of Donnini's comrades fell under the intense fire, and the 19-year-old rushed into the open to carry him back to safety.

Despite being wounded he attacked the German position firing a machine gun and helped his platoon overwhelm the enemy. However, Donnini was killed when a bullet hit a grenade he was carrying.

Quote/fact: Two months after Dennis's self-sacrifice, the family was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive his medal but Alfredo was at first barred entry because of his alien status.