Wartime VC who really did become a comic book hero

The 33 year old corporal charged through a hail of grenades and gunfire shooting several German soldiers and taking others prisoner as he seized their dugouts.

He charged again and armed with grenades took out a machine gun nest but was killed as he returned to his platoon dug in near the Belgium town of Merksplas.

For his bravery the mild-mannered soldier was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and amazingly he did become a comic book hero when his story was retold in The Victor.

His home town of Hatfield, near Doncaster, has now been officially twinned with Merksplas, his story is taught in local schools and Hatfield Brass Band have just returned after performing a string of concerts there.

And next year 45 schoolchildren will visit the town, close to the Dutch border, with a delegation from Merksplas travelling to Doncaster in June.

Corporal Harper, a member of the York and Lancaster Regiment, died on September 29, 1944, when a platoon under his command battled to seize the Depot de Mendicitie, near Antwerp, from enemy hands.

In the days that followed, the area, including the nearby town of Merksplas fell to the Allies, largely thanks to Cpl Harper’s bravery. He was buried at the nearby Leopoldsburg war cemetery and the story of his bravery remained untouched for another quarter of a century until a chance discovery by one of his relatives, Gordon Harper.

In 1968, while he was serving in the military in Libya, Gordon was leafing through a copy of The Victor comic and became fascinated by the story on the front page ‘The Stubborn Tyke’ which told Cpl Harper’s story.

When Gordon told the story to his family, he was amazed to find that Cpl Harper was his father’s cousin. He said: “John’s story is an amazing one, one that should be preserved and told to future generations.”