ALTRINCHAM'S Victoria Cross war hero, Bill Speakman, was joined by another serviceman who has received the country's highest bravery award, at the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday.

Eighty-nine year-old Bill was pushed in a wheelchair by one of Britain's most recent VC recipients, Johnson Beharry.

The pair were near the front of the parade of thousands of servicemen and women.

Mr Speakman won the Victoria Cross for an incredible act of bravery on November 4, 1951.

On that day, Mr Speakman - a private in the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) attached to the King's Own Scottish Borderers - used his 6ft 6 inch frame to devastating effect. He led six others on a series of grenade charges to fend off successive waves of attacks from Chinese soldiers.

Mr Speakman continued to lead the charges even after having a serious leg wound bandaged, enabling his company to withdraw to safety.

Although his award was made by King George VI, Mr Speakman was the first person to receive the Victoria Cross from Queen Elizabeth II.

Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry, aged 27, won the VC in 2004 for twice saving members of his unit, the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, from ambushes at Al-Amarah, Iraq.

The Queen led the nation in tribute as the nation remembered its war dead, laying a wreath for the annual service of Remembrance.