The Ministry of Defence has issued the last medal for service in the First World War. It had been requested by the family of a soldier who had kept his war service secret from them.

The Silver War Badge was issued posthumously to Alfred Gibbins, who was seriously injured during the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Mr Gibbins denied even to his own family that he had fought in the war, claiming that his injuries were sustained in childhood and had kept him out of the Army.

The truth came to light when his son, Peter, born long after his father's war service, began to research his family history. He discovered that his father had fought in the mud of Flanders, where he was seriously injured by a mortar shell. He lay in no man's land for five days before he was rescued by Canadian troops and taken to a field hospital.

Peter Gibbins believes that his father, right, who died in 1956, was so traumatised by his experiences in France that he blanked them out of his mind. Mr Gibbins applied to the MoD for the service medal that his father had never claimed and exactly 90 years after the guns fell silent he received it in a ceremony at Olympia, West London.

The MoD said yesterday: “Mr Gibbins's badge is significant as it is the last World War One badge we are able to provide. However, the Medal Office is still able to provide Second World War medals for veterans who did not receive them at the time, or to their next of kin.”

The Silver War Badge was issued to soldiers who had been invalided out of the Army to show that they had served and to prevent their being accused of cowardice or dodging conscription.

Mr Gibbins, 61, of Bristol, said: “It all started to add up. The injuries, the missing toe, it all made sense. He never spoke about it at all. I see now that he saw some terrible things and didn't want to share them with anyone. He bottled them up and simply tried to forget about them.

“Receiving the badge on his behalf was an incredibly proud moment for me, because it recognised his lifetime's sacrifice for this country.”

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