IN EVERY sense of the word, Warrant Officer Gary O’Donnell is a true hero.

The soldier, a member of the highly-skilled and highly-regarded 11 Explosive Ordnance Regiment, based at Vauxhall Barracks, in Didcot, was also a 40-year-old father-of-four and a husband.

Yesterday, it was revealed he had been posthumously awarded a second George Medal, the country’s second-highest award for courage while not under enemy fire.

It ranks just below the George Cross.

The fact he already picked up a George Medal for his bravery in Iraq in 2006 speaks volumes about the man.

He is the first person since 1973 to be awarded two George Medals.

‘Gaz’ as he was known, was honoured for saving the lives of dozens of soldiers in Afghanistan’s Helmand province last summer.

He was well known for performing many death-defying acts of bravery, including disarming an Afghan Taliban bomb after it had triggered.

He died in September — just weeks after his fourth child was born.

Many continue to argue the whys and wherefores of Britain’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what is indisputable is the bravery and valour of the thousands of soldiers who serve there.

Let us not forget these men and women are all fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters too.