The MoD has awarded the final posthumous medal for service during WWI to a British Tommy who spent five days injured but kept his heroism secret even from his family.

Brave Alfred Gibbins was critically injured in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and spent five days in no man's land after being hit by shrapnel.

He was disabled for life but hid the horrors of the battlefield from his future wife and child.

Alfred took his secrets to the grave in 1956. His son Peter did not even know his father had served in the war until he decided to research his family history and discovered his father was a hero.

Mr Gibbins, now 61, realised his father had not received the official honour he deserved and lobbied the Ministry of Defence.

Now Alfred has been awarded the Silver War Badge for King and Empire – Services Rendered.

The Ministry of Defence said it would be the last of its kind and no other posthumous service medals for World War I would be issued. Speaking from his home in Bristol, Mr Gibbins said: "Like so many others, my father laid his life on the line for his country and was badly injured for his troubles.

"He was disabled for the rest of his adult life following the Battle of Passchendaele, yet he was never honoured for all he did there.

"So receiving the badge on his behalf was an incredibly proud moment for me, because it recognised his lifetime's sacrifice for this country.

"It was also the very last time that the MoD would ever issue a medal for services during World War I, and that makes it even more special." Born in 1898 in Ilford, East London, Alfred spent his early teenage years working as a clerk in a shop.

He turned 18 in 1917 and was conscripted as a Private into the 6th Battalion The West Yorkshire Regiment.

Within weeks he was dispatched to Belgium where he fought in the bloody trenches of Passchendaele in the infamous battle of Ypres.

It was there that he was injured by an incoming mortar shell and was left for dead in no man's land for five days before he was rescued.

He suffered severe frostbite to his right foot and a series of wounds to the rest of his body that would plague him for the rest of his life.

He was pulled from the mud by Allied Canadian troops, who carried him to a military hospital where his right big toe was amputated.

He was sent back to Britain where he spent the next 16 months bedridden in a military hospital in Birmingham.

Mr Gibbins said: "When he came out of hospital, dad couldn't walk. His foot was a mess and he had suffered a host of other injuries.

"It meant he could only walk with the aid of a stick, which he carried with him wherever he went." Following his discharge from the army, Alfred returned to Ilford and his old job before marrying Eve in 1945.

He never revealed his involvement in the war to anyone, including Eve, Mr Gibbins and their close family friends.

Mr Gibbins, a retired RAF engineer, said: "All he ever said was that he was injured in an accident when he was a lad.

"He never spoke about it at all. I see now that he saw some terrible things and didn't want to share them with anyone.

"He bottled them up and simply tried to forget about them."

But following his mother's death in 1985, Mr Gibbins grew curious about his family history and about the life of his father, who died at 58. Last year, he used the family history ancestry.com, to track down his father's career history and unearthed the World War I secret.

He found details of his father's medical records dating back to the night of December 27, 1917, when he was taken into a temporary field hospital by the Canadian forces.

Mr Gibbins also learned details of his father's time at the military hospital in Birmingham where he spent more than a year recovering.

"It all started to add up," said Mr Gibbins said.

"The injuries, the missing toe, it all made sense.

"For the first time in my life I realised that my father had been involved in World War I and had nearly lost his life there, too. It was just strange he never received a medal like all the rest did."

Armed with his evidence, Mr Gibbins, who is now a grandfather, convinced the Ministry of Defence to part with a Silver War Badge. Also known as the Silver Wound Badge, it was handed to all veterans who were discharged following sickness or serious injury.

Featuring George V's coat of arms, the circular silver award was worn by all discharged veterans on civilian clothes to prove they had participated in the war.

Without it, men of conscription age, between 18 and 41, faced accusations of cowardice and physical threats on the streets.

It was finally presented to Mr Gibbins, on behalf of his father, at a ceremony at London's Olympia centre in May, by an army Brigadier and several top brass from the MoD.

Proud Mr Gibbins said: "It was the best feeling of my life. It was worth all the effort."

He added that Remembrance Day would be particularly poignant this year.

He said: "Remembrance Day has always been special to me because of my involvement with the RAF.

"But this year it has become particularly poignant because of everything we have discovered about dad's life.

"My twin granddaughters spent their pocket money on poppies this year after we told them about their great-grandfather.

"It brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye."

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Alfred Gibbins' Silver War Badge would be the last World War I medal to be issued.

A spokesman said it did so in light of his heroic deeds on the battlefield and for the injuries he received.

He said: "The MoD Medal Office was delighted to present Mr Gibbins with a Silver War Badge on behalf of his late father in recognition of his injury during World War I.

"Mr Gibbins' badge is significant as it is the last World War I badge we are able to provide.

"However, the Medal Office is still able to provide World War II medals for veterans who did not receive them at the time, or to their next of kin, if they provide details of their service."