Mr Tallents was a bomb-aimer in a crew of seven flying Lancaster bombers with the famous 460 Squadron.

They flew in support of the Allied landings which liberated France, and led to the end of the war in Europe less than a year later.

The French government decided in 2014 on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings to give the Legion of Honour to every surviving serviceman or woman who participated in the campaign.

Mr Tallents spent his war shoe-horned into a tiny plexiglass bubble at the front of the aircraft, lying flat on his stomach to peer through the bomb-sight and give final course corrections to the pilot before pressing the button which released the plane’s deadly cargo of explosives.

“I had the best view of the war you could get,” he said.

He was also responsible for firing the twin machine guns in the front gun turret to ward off attacking German fighters.

Originally from Frankston in Victoria, Mr Tallents and his wife Dorothy came to Kempsey in the 1950s when Geoff was offered a job at the local Ford dealership by an old RAAF comrade, and they have been here ever since.

He went onto establish Tallents Toyota dealership and contribute greatly to Kempsey’s cultural life through his involvement with the Kempsey Singers.

He was an accomplished cricketer and still remembers vividly one of the highlights of his somewhat remarkable life, involving the greatest player of all time, Don Bradman.

In 1940 then Lieutenant Bradman brought his army team to Frankston to play the local high school team.

Mr Tallents took the outstanding figures of 8/26 in the first innings, which begs an obvious question.

“No,” he said.

“I didn’t get Bradman, I had him dropped!”

Ironically the player who dropped the catch later claimed Bradman’s wicket.

For the record Frankston High were all out for 34 (Geoff got a duck) in reply and Bradman enforced the follow-on. 

Geoff top scored with 61 in the second innings as Frankston were bowled out for 118.