Bravery medal presented to one-armed RAF sergeant from Leyland in WW2 to be auctioned in London

The honour, presented to George Roskell by King George VI at Buckingham Palace in May 1942, is expected to fetch up to £4,000.

Sgt Roskell won the medal after a daring escape from German forces which saw him travel almost the length of France with the help of Resistance fighters and locals after he lost an arm in the fighting.

The airfield in Northern France where he was repairing RAF planes was attacked by the Germans on June 14, 1940.

Sgt Roskell, while not air crew, was taxiing aircraft when he was badly injured by shrapnel. His arm had to be amputated the same day and, despite that, he managed to escape from hospital as German forces advanced.

He was captured as a prisoner of war while in a convent hospital in Nantes, but after two months was smuggled out and went on the run, eventually reaching unoccupied France, travelling to Limoges, Toulouse, Perpignan and arriving in Marseilles in February 1941 after an escape lasting seven months.

In the citation for the Military Medal read: "This sergeant showed great courage and persistence in attempting to escape whilst badly wounded."

His award was one of only 119 Military Medals won by the RAF during the Second World War.

Sgt Roskell was discharged from the RAF as medically unfit in August 1941. He died in Chelmsford in 1981 aged 62.

The medal will be auctioned by Noonans of Mayfair on October 12.