Mum stuns family by turning up at funeral to tell them they were burying a hero

A woman who suffered horrific burns in a fire almost 50 years ago stunned mourners when she turned up at the funeral of the man who saved her.

Battling Audrey Cameron, 48, was a baby when heroic John Hunter rescued her from a burning flat. She suffered terrible burns to her head, face, body and limbs after she was trapped in her high chair in flames.

When she heard John had died she went to pay her respects at his funeral uncovering a family secret that had been lost for years.

None of John’s family knew of his heroics, until Audrey asked for a wreath spelling out the word “hero” to be carried in the hearse.

John’s niece Pauline Graham, a librarian from Glasgow, said: “It was the first I’d heard of what a hero Uncle John was. He was such a modest man who would never boast about anything. Many people at the funeral wondered who Audrey was and were stunned to discover Uncle John’s heroic past.”

Audrey was only a year old when John defied firefighters’ orders to save the seemingly-doomed infant. She was trapped in a baby chair as the flames burned her.

The former shipyard worker was awarded a bravery medal three months after the fire in 1968. But he put it in the back of a drawer and never spoke about it to his family again.

When he passed away aged 82 in January, Audrey heard from a pal in passing he had died.

Determined to pay her final respects to the man she owes her life to, she ordered the “hero” wreath and placed old newspaper cuttings about her rescue in her bag.

At the wake the family were stunned to read the articles revealing how John had dashed into the blazing flat three times, managing to pull Audrey to safety on the third attempt.

Proud son Alistair, 41, a panel beater from Cardonald, Glasgow, was also stunned to hear Audrey’s first-hand account of how Uncle John’s heroics had shaped her life.

“I was amazed to learn how brave my dad had been,” he said. “I learned things about my dad I never knew.

“He walked into a burning house three times to save Audrey without a thought for his own safety. But he never uttered a word about it when he was alive. He was just that kind of person.

“We were aware he’d got a medal for helping at a fire but had no idea how brave he had been. He never spoke about it to us and would have hated a fuss.

“Dad died from a broken heart just months after my mum Jean, passed away. He struggled to go on without her.”

Mum-of-three Audrey, also of Glasgow, is pleased she got to say her goodbye at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cardonald, Glasgow.

“It was the least I could do to tell the world how much he meant to me,” she said.

“Without him I would not be alive. I met John on and off throughout the years but he refused to talk about the fire when I asked.”