MEDALS awarded to three generations of the same family who served with the Green Howards have gone on display.

Jack Riordan, 76, from Brompton, Northallerton, handed over his campaign medals and MBE to the regiment's museum in Richmond yesterday.

The medals will sit alongside those of his father, Thomas Riordan, and grandfather, Mortimer Riordan, who also received MBEs.

All three were regimental sergeant majors (RSM).

Major Roger Chapman, curator of the museum, said: "This is a remarkable family record - if not unprecedented.

"We are delighted to be able to display the medals of three generations of a family, who have served the Green Howards so well for 120 years."

Jack Riordan joined the Green Howards in 1945 as a 15-year-old band boy.

He later joined the regular 2nd Battalion at Khartoum in the Sudan, before serving with the 1st Battalion as a signaller during the Malayan Emergency, from 1949 to 1952.

He was promoted to colour sergeant in Hong Kong in 1957, warrant officer in West Germany in 1966, and RSM at Strensall, York, in 1970. A year later, he was commissioned and became quartermaster in 1975, when he was appointed an MBE.

Mr Riordan's grandfather joined as a drummer boy in 1877 in Ireland and served all over the world including Bermuda, Canada and Sudan.

His father also enlisted as a drummer boy and was captured during the 1st Battle of Ypres.

After his release, he served in India, Sudan, China and England, before being appointed RSM at the Green Howards depot in Richmond.