The extraordinary bravery of a former Royal Russell pupil during World War Two is to be formally recognised by the school.

A sapling has been planted in honour of Gerald Hood at the Coombe Lane school - and by a spooky coincidence it stands in the exact spot where the former pupil posed for his last school photograph before joining the RAF.

The little-known heroics of Gerald were recently unearthed by the Old Russellian Society while researching the records of past pupils killed during the war.

Gerald was an orphan who was educated at Royal Russell from the age of eight. He became a flight officer in the RAF and was shot down in Holland in August 1944.

He was picked up and sheltered by the Dutch Resistance in the Almelo area, in the north-east of the country close to the German border.

He spent almost all of his time with one family in Nijvedal, but eventually gave himself up on March 13, 1945, after repeated searches of the house. A week later on March 21 he was murdered by the Germans in a wood near Almelo.

A spokesman from Royal Russell said: "The Dutch were extremely grateful that Gerald, despite being held by the Gestapo for a week, did not give any of the Resistance away.

"Since the end of World War Two he has been revered in the community of Zenderen in Holland for his bravery in the face of interrogation by the Gestapo."

The Dutch honoured Gerald's bravery with a memorial close to where he was shot.

In May, around 30 Old Russellians and pupils of the school will attend at service there.

On Saturday, May 19, a ceremony at the school will honour Gerald for the first time and a fly over is being discussed.

Representatives from Gerald's RAF Squadron have been invited, as well as members of the Zenderen Liberation Committee.

The service will also include the dedication of the sapling tree presented by the Zenderen Liberation Committee which came from the woods where Gerald was shot.

The school spokesman added: "This heart-rending story has an extra twist, with Old Russellians making one extra discovery. It would seem that the last photograph on record of Gerald was taken at the very same spot that was chosen this time to plant the tree presented by the Zenderen Liberation.

"A simple coincidence or maybe not."