THE heroism of a Second World War veteran will be retold on television.

Captain Richard Annand is one of only a handful of surviving winners of the Victoria Cross (VC).

He lives in Durham City with his wife, Shirley, and will celebrate his 90th birthday this weekend.

Capt Annand was awarded his VC for his bravery in rescuing an injured comrade from behind enemy lines while under heavy German fire.

Then a second lieutenant in the 2nd Durham Light Infantry, he was part of the British Expeditionary Force, holding up the German advance through Belgium as the main force attempted to escape from the beaches of Dunkirk. His story will be told in the For Valour, programme to be shown on Tyne Tees at 7.30pm tomorrow.

The programme also recounts the heroism of two other men who were awarded the military's highest honour for bravery.

The Reverend Theodore Bayley Hardy, from Kirkby Lonsdale, in Cumbria, earned his medal as a chaplain who tended to injured men in No Man's Land during the First World War.

Piper Daniel Laidlaw, of the Scottish Borders, was awarded the VC at the Battle of Loos, leading his comrades over the top in an attack on the German trenches armed only with his bagpipes.