A SOUTHAMPTON man has launched a campaign to force a Winchester military museum to reunite a war hero with his Victoria Cross.

The Gurkha Museum, in Peninsula Barracks, has been criticised for refusing to allow the VC to be sent to Nepal to be worn again by Tulbahadur Pun, 89.

The Gurkha won the highest military honour for heroism in Burma in the Second World War.

Lt Pun, who is in poor health, has asked the museum to allow him to wear the medal for one last time, but was refused.

Danni Pitcher, 37, unemployed, of Woolston, has been angered by the museum's stance and will picket the Peninsula Barracks tomorrow with his wife and three children.

He said: "The kids have learned about the Second World War at school. This treatment of a veteran just does not seem right, morally."

Museum curator Major Gerald Davies said Lt Pun had sold the medal in 1974 to the Regimental Association of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles. A successor regiment, the Royal Gurkha Rifles transferred the medal to the museum in 2003 for safekeeping.

Major Davies said the museum trustees were due to discuss the issue at their meeting in Winchester next month.

He said the museum was bound by strict rules, and the cost of insuring the valuable medal for overseas travel had to be considered.

Winchester MP Mark Oaten has called on the museum to allow Lt Pun to see his medal one last time before his death.

He said: "Lt Pun is one of only twelve surviving VC-holders. Although I appreciate there are difficulties in sending the medal to Nepal, I would hope that a sensible compromise can be reached."