THE family of an heroic soldier posthumously awarded a rare medal for helping prevent a Jewish girl from becoming a victim of the Holocaust is being urged to come forward.

Edwin Hambling, of Stourport-upon-Severn, and nine other prisoners of war helped shelter Sara Rigler from the Nazis in January 1945.

Mr Hambling was born in November 1918 and died in 1984.

He was nominated for a Heroes of the Holocaust award by the British Government in 2010 – one of only 27 people recognised in that way. In 2011, he was nominated for a Righteous Among the Nations medal by the Israeli Government.

Just 19 Brits have received this honour.

Neither of his awards have ever been collected by his family. It is unknown if they still live in Stourport-upon-Severn, but Kent resident Chris Hammond, nephew of one of Mr Hambling’s fellow PoWs George Hammond, wants to find them.

Mr Hambling was captured in 1940 and sent to Stalag 20B, near what is now Gdansk in Poland.

In January 1945, during an infamous Nazi death march past the camp, 17-year-old Sara Rigler escaped, leaving her mother and sister to look for food. It was the last time she would ever see them.

She was later found hiding in a barn by the British soldiers who, following a group discussion, decided to hide her at huge risk. If they had been caught by the SS, all would have been immediately shot.

When discovered by the troops, she was tired, dirty and lice-ridden. The men cleaned and hid her in the hayloft in a barn for about a month, stealing clothing and food for her from the farm where they worked.

As the Russian forces advanced, the prisoners were ordered to leave the camp and offered to dress Sara as a British soldier, but she did not have the strength for the 600km march they faced.

Sara is still alive and lives in America. She met the soldiers who saved her in London in 1972.

She had remembered one of the soldiers’ names and called everyone in the British phonebook with that name.

Mr Hammond said: “This story needs remembering. If Mr Hambling has got family, his medals should be collected. If not, the medals should be in a local museum, with the story next to it.”

Six of the 10 PoWs’ Heroes of the Holocaust medals have been collected, as have five of the Israeli awards after Mr Hammond started a search for families.