Incredible story behind this throwback photo: Bluey Kirkwood ran away to war after killing a man but still died a hero - even though the Miracle Man couldn t always stay on the right side of the law
World War II veteran John Bluey Kirkwood was an illegal SP bookmaker at the Hotel Bondi through the 1950s
Kirkwood had been seriously injured by gunfire and shrapnel at El Alamein in 1942 and left on the field to die
Told he would never walk again, Kirkwood spent more than two years in hospital before taking his first steps
He was among drinkers captured in an iconic photograph taken in the Hotel Bondi bar on November 3, 1951