Now, more than 60 years later, Archibald Walker's selfless act of courage during the dark days of the Clydebank blitz could lead to a major change in Britain's honours system.

Walker, a Glasgow police officer, was among hundreds who were on duty on the nights of March 13 and 14, 1941, when the Luftwaffe carried out a devastating attack on the Clydeside area, flattening 4,000 homes and killing 528 people.

With no thought for his own safety, Walker plunged into the inferno of one building, pulling out bodies and saving the lives of at least two people.

That summer he was given the George Medal, the award which had been instituted a year earlier by George VI to mark civilian acts of bravery during the London blitz.

The award was an immense source of pride to the Walker family, but over the years they began to question the medal.

Not only was the medal itself inscribed with an image of St George, an accompanying citation spoke of "all of us who love England".

Walker died 12 years ago at the age of 82. But his son Alistair has started a campaign to create a new 'St Andrew's Medal' specifically for Scots who have committed acts of bravery.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the SNP will take up Walker's case at the party's annual conference this autumn, when it will vote on creating a new medal for civilian Scots.

Leaked copies of the party's autumn conference agenda reveal that party members will decide this October whether "to award a St Andrew's medal for civilian acts of bravery to anyone deserving of such an award".

With the resolution certain to be backed, SNP ministers will then take the proposal forward.

Plans are still to be discussed on how the medal would be awarded. One option would be to create a separate award, bequeathed by the Holyrood administration and running alongside the existing honours structure. The other, which would need the co-operation of Westminster, would see the George Medal and Cross replaced by the St Andrew's honour.

But last night, Labour MSPs hit back warning that such measures amounted to "independence by stealth", insisting that the George Cross and George Medal were UK-wide honours which should remain in place.

Walker said last night that the English bias on his father's George Medal had long rankled with the family.

"Of course, my father was happy to have received the George Medal, but he would have preferred something Scottish," he said.

"He was very happy to go to Buckingham Palace. But now we have a devolved Scottish Government and maybe it is time for a St Andrew's Medal. It is right that the English should have their medal and the Scots should have theirs."

Walker said he thought that the Scottish Government should appoint a body to recommend recipients, before the monarch of the day came to Edinburgh to present it.

He added: "This isn't to do with independence or the SNP, it's to do with Scotland. I hope the SNP conference will now pass it."

Chris McLaughlin, of the SNP's Eastwood branch, which is putting forward the resolution said: "Both Alistair and his father, whilst very happy to have been decorated, felt that it should have been a Scottish medal.

"This will certainly be backed at conference and it will then become party policy. It will then be the responsibility of the SNP Government to make it happen. This would be a replacement medal. The George Medal and the George Cross are English medals."

However, Labour MSP Lord Foulkes urged caution over the proposal, saying it could feed into the SNP's wider strategy to gradually loosen ties within the UK.

Foulkes said: "What the SNP want to do, and it is very clever, is bit by bit, they are trying to make people more willing to accept things that are Scottish only, rather than Scottish and British. It is separation by stealth. All this is a cleverly worked out strategy to try to move things in the direction whereby each step of itself is not much, but when it adds up, it is quite a lot." He added: "It should be stressed that the George Cross is named after a Sovereign not a Saint."

The idea of a St Andrew's medal was first raised earlier this year by SNP MSP Christine Grahame.

Grahame said: "The British George Medal depicts Saint George of England slaying a mythical dragon, a representation that remains quintessentially English. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but clearly the Scottish Government will, I am sure, be keen to commission an award that reflects Scotland's own national character in a manner that is more fitting for those who receive the medal."

Notable recipients of the George Medal include navy frogman Lionel 'Buster' Crabb, racing driver Mike Hailwood, nursery nurse Lisa Potts, Everest climber Tenzing Norgay and Nancy Wake, known to the Gestapo as "the White Mouse" because of her skills at evading capture when she worked with the French resistance.

The most recent recipient of the higher ranking George Cross, for civilians or service personnel, was Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, from Birmingham, who was awarded the George Cross last month after he dived on a Taliban grenade in order to save his fellow soldiers.

Another recent recipient was Corporal Mark Wright, of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who died in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in September 2006 after entering a minefield in a bid to save the lives of other injured soldiers.