A WAR hero who helped defend a vital allied stronghold during the Second World War is preparing to make an emotional return to the scene of the battle.

Herbert Wilcock, from Westhoughton, was a 17-year-old able seaman when he served aboard the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Foxhound as it protected Malta from invasion by the Axis allies of Italy and Nazi Germany.

The Mediterranean island had long been a military lynchpin for the British and was seen as a vital supply port in the struggle to control North Africa, where battle was raging between the Allied and Axis powers.

Enemy forces attempted to bomb and starve the island into submission, carrying out 3,000 bombing raids, damaging or destroying 30,000 buildings and killing 1,300 civilians.

The Royal Navy lost 27 surface vessels defending Malta, including the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle and Ark Royal, as well as 38 submarines.

But despite massive losses the Allies held out and the siege was eventually lifted when the heavily damaged supply ship SS Ohio limped into port.

For six months Mr Wilcock, aged 86, took part in daily patrols around Malta’s treacherous waters helping to shield it from attack by Italian and German aircraft.

He said: “They were dive bombing the island all the time and smashing it up — the conditions there were just terrible. The people were starving because supplies weren’t getting through.

“It was dangerous and every time you went on a patrol you never knew whether you were going to come back.”

Mr Wilcock, of Beatty Drive, returned to Malta two years ago as part of the lottery-funded Heroes Return 2 campaign — which pays for trips for veterans to the site of their former battlefields.

And he will now head back again after the scheme announced a new round of funding.

Mr Wilcock also served in the Normandy campaign aboard the Foxhound, where he manned its four-inch guns, as well as in the gruelling Arctic Convoys aboard the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk.

He said: “I like going back to Malta — the people are nice, but I don’t like to dwell too much on what happened.”

Veterans who wish to apply to the scheme should contact 0845 000 0121 or visit biglotteryfund.org.uk/ heroesreturn.