A NOTTS war hero has had a road named after him.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sam Derry, MC, DSO. protected and helped more than 4,000 prisoners-of-war escape from Italy during the Second World War.
Newark and Sherwood District Council arranged for signs to be made to mark Sam Derry Close, off Barnby Gate, in Newark.
Council chairman Councillor Dennis Jones said: "Sam Derry's record speaks for itself. He was a courageous man who helped thousands of servicemen to escape the Nazis.
"He is Newark's most senior decorated war hero and while he was offered a lot of recognition during his lifetime he shied away from the limelight.
"He was a modest hero, who thought clearly and quickly on his feet."
Lieutenant Colonel Derry's son William said: "When you consider the number of people who would otherwise have been either executed or sent to Nazi concentration camps but escaped, and who were able to go on to have children themselves, and whose children also had children of their own – none of these people would have existed."
Lieutenant-Colonel Derry joined the Territorial Army in 1936, serving with the 60th North Midland Field Brigade in Lincoln before embarking on his war service in 1939.
He was a Dunkirk evacuee and served in the Western Desert in 1941 before being imprisoned by the Nazis.
He twice escaped and recounted his experiences in his book The Rome Escape Line, which was later made into a film, The Scarlet and the Black.
Lieutenant-Colonel Derry died in 1996, aged 82.
The 100th anniversary of his birth is due to be celebrated on April 14 next year.