Not often in public life you come across an individual whose quiet decency and steadfast character leave such a lasting impression.

Warrant Officer Jim O’Dwyer was undoubtedly one of them.

Jim, who passed away in January aged 100, was a proud Clacton resident though more significantly one of the last surviving heroes of Bomber Command.

The Times recently published an obituary of Jim’s which detailed his World War Two escapades that were so brave, so utterly heroic, they could have been plucked from the pages of The Boys Own Paper.

Born in Co Tipperary, Jim volunteered to join the RAF in 1944 on his 18th birthday. He was posted to 101 Squadron, which had the RAF’s highest casualty rates of the war by far.

There he served in Lancasters, the most feared aircraft in air in the RAF fleet but also one of the most vulnerable. He was also a rear gunner, the most dangerous job on a plane.

In the space of just three months, he flew 31 missions over Germany in some of the most daring raids of the entire campaign. The fear he and his crew must have experienced is unimaginable.

Not that you’d ever know it, the way Jim talked about it. He remained modest and humble about his extraordinary achievements to the end.

My friends, they simply don’t make ’em like that any more, and it was an absolute pleasure to spend VE Day with him last year in Pall Mall to commemorate the sacrifices of the greatest generation.

One of the final occasions I saw Jim was last year while visiting his home in Holland-On-Sea, where we discussed him losing his winter fuel allowance. ’This is how they thank us,’ sighed the great war hero.

The time was 11.30am and Jim’s daughter Jennifer soon appeared bearing refreshments. For me a coffee, for my 99-year old host… a foaming tankard of Spitfire ale! Cheers, Jim. Rest easy.