SOLDIER David Hammond was one of the many heroes of the First World War.

His bravery under fire won him the Military Medal twice in the space of just one year.

When war broke out again in 1939, he was among the first to rejoin the colours.

Now the chestful of honours he won during his Army service are to go on show at the regimental museum of his old outfit, the Green Howards.

His daughter Joy Bielby, from Asenby, near Thirsk, has fulfilled her father's wishes by presenting the medal collection to the Richmond Museum.

Sergeant Hammond, who came from Eaglescliffe, joined the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) at the end of 1914 when he was 20.

He was awarded his first Military Medal as a corporal on the Western Front in October 1916, when he helped rescue a badly wounded man from a shell crater and carried him to safety under heavy fire.

His second Military Medal was for his heroism the following July, by which time he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. On the Cambrian Lines on the Western Front he carried a wounded man on his back along the trenches under severe fire.

When he returned home to his wife Rose, who then lived in Hutton Rudby, the villagers presented him with a gold watch and chain to commemorate his bravery.

In 1939, 45-year-old Sgt Hammond was asked to join the Green Howards again. During the war he trained new recruits at the regiment's depot in Richmond, looked after German prisoners of war in Cornwall and took them to Canada, and did guard duties in Belfast.

Mrs Bielby said: "My father died in 1982, but always wanted his medals to go to the museum of his beloved regiment."

Museum curator Major Roger Chapman said: "Sergeant Hammond's medals tell a story of great bravery under the extreme conditions of warfare.

"We are very grateful to Mrs Bielby and all his family for their generosity in presenting them to the museum of his old regiment."