The First Minister will attend a memorial service in Edinburgh to commemorate the life of Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter.

John Swinney has paid tribute to his war hero uncle who won the Victoria Cross while fighting in the Second World War.

The First Minister will attend a memorial service in Leith in remembrance of Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter, who died aged just 21 in combat at Lake Comacchio in Northern Italy.

The SNP leader will lay a wreathe at a church in Edinburgh on the 80th anniversary of his late uncle’s death on April 3, 1945.

Hunter posthumously received the Victoria Cross – the British Army’s highest award – in recognition of his bravery in the face of enemy fire.

The corporal had been leading a troop of Royal Marines to liberate a stretch of land near a canal at Comacchio when he was killed.

Swinney today recalled finding the medals awarded to Hunter when was a seven-year-old visiting his grandmother’s house in Edinburgh.

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“She sat me down and explained that these medals had been awarded to my late uncle,” the First Minister wrote in a column for The Scotsman.

“When I looked up from the medals to my granny, her face bore the agony of losing her beloved son, even though at that point a quarter of a century had passed since his death.”

In a letter to Swinney’s grandmother, granny sent on April 24, 1945, Hunter’s commanding officer Captain Bob Loudon wrote: “His actions just before he was killed undoubtedly saved the troop from suffering a large number of casualties.

“He exposed himself in the face of heavy enemy fire and engaged some enemy machine gun posts at close range with his own Bren gun. This action drew the enemy’s fire onto him and enabled the remainder of the troop, which had been caught in the open, to take cover.”

Swinney added: “His death brought heartbreak to my granny, my mother and their family.

“My mother remembered being called home from her work at the age of 14 to an atmosphere of unbearable and inconsolable grief in the house.

‘She felt the loss of a loving brother who looked out for her, sent her greetings for her birthday from the war and inspired her in so many ways.”

The First Minister continued: “As I take forward my life in the public spotlight, I realise how tough that must have been for my granny; a very private woman thrust into the public spotlight because of the tragic loss of her son.

“I cannot think of my granny without thinking of the pain she endured through that loss.

“And today, I cannot think of the risks that are taken by our armed forces, without contemplating the worries for them and their loved ones, just like those faced by my granny.”

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