AS he lay in his hospital bed, just hours from death, a Worcester war veteran summoned the strength to have one last medal proudly pinned to his chest.

John Hewlett was given the MBE for 60 years service to the Royal British Legion on Tuesday.

The next evening the 92 year old died - the honour still pinned to his pyjamas.

Too ill to make the journey to Buckingham Palace, he had instead been presented with the honour by his family at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Daughter Pauline Lane, who lives in Cardiff with her husband Doug said: "When he found out we put a note behind his bed in hospital saying MBE. He had so many wonderful messages and letters from the Legion, the MP, the Mayor and so many people. We were just so, so proud.

"The palace sent his MBE to us and we gave it to him on Tuesday.

"But he was a bit sleepy so we went back the next day and his lifelong friend Phil Ashby presented it when he was much more awake.

"We had a little celebration for him."

The Queen announced Mr Hewlett was to receive the MBE in her New Year's Honours List.

The veteran was well known throughout the city for his services to the Royal British Legion and annual attendance at Remembrance Sunday services.

Always smartly turned out, he wore an array of war medals pinned to his chest and a distinctive bowler hat.

Mr Hewlett, who lived in St John's, was president of the Worcester city branch of the Royal British Legion and chairman until 2004.

It wasn't the first time his efforts had been noted. In 2006 he was presented with the legion's National Life Membership award after helping to more than £380,000 for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

Mr Hewlett joined the legion after he left the Navy in 1948 and had laid a wreath to mark the end of the Second Word War every year since 1947 at Worcester Cathedral war memorial, reciting Lawrence Binyon's poignant poem For The Fallen and dedicating it to his "mates" who never came back.

As previously reported in your Worcester News, he had suffered a stroke in October - leaving him unable to attend November's Remembrance Sunday ceremony - the first he had missed in 60 years.Born in Worcester in 1915, one of 10 children, Mr Hewlett, also known as Jack to his friends, was educated at St Barnabas School, Astwood Road. He joined the navy at the age of 26 and served as a chief petty officer, responsible for repairing damaged ships.

With the Navy he went to Gibraltar, Aden, Bombay, Colombo and Australia. While serving as a repair squad chief in the southern seas he saw at first hand the damage caused by Japanese suicide bombers.

After he was de-mobbed, Mr Hewlett returned to his wife Betty and two children, Pauline and Adrian, in Worcester.

He worked as an engineer, carrying out jobs such as repairs to the city's Sabrina Bridge and making a new set of scales for the justice statue outside Worcester Crown Court.

He leaves behind his wife of 66 years, two children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

His funeral is expected to take place on Wednesday, February 27 at Worcester Cathedral at 11am however this is still to be confirmed.

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