THE astonishing courage of a First World War soldier has been remembered through the medals he was awarded.

The honours won by Green Howard James Hall, from Murton Colliery, in County Durham, have been presented by his family to the regimental museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

In December 1915, Mr Hall was a sergeant with the 10th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards).

As he took part in the battle for Armentires, he saw his brother-in-law, Jack Robinson, and another man buried after a wall collapsed.

Despite being under fire from German forces, he risked his own life to dig the men out. He succeeded in saving them both - although he lost an arm.

For that action, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Later in the war, while serving with the West Yorkshire Regiment, he also won the Military Medal - but no records of the action involved have so far been found.

Now Mr Hall's daughter, Rene Smith, together with his granddaughter, Lorraine Bates, and her husband, Ian, grandsons Adrian Fisher and Stuart Smith, and great-grandson Adrian Fisher, have donated both medals for display at the Green Howards Museum.

Along with them are the three general World War One service medals, usually known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after comic characters of the time.

They also gave a silver cigarette case presented by the people of Murton Colliery to Mr Hall when he won the DCM.

Mrs Smith and Lorraine still live in the village, which was also the home to Sgt Hall's friend, Sergeant Billy McNally, who won two Military Medals and, in 1918, was awarded the Victoria Cross. A picture of Mr Hall, given by the family, includes another soldier whom Mr Hall described on the back of the photograph as "My mate Billy', who is thought to be McNally.

There is also an unusual reminder of one of the men Sgt Hall rescued, Jack Robinson. It is a piece of khaki cloth with a letter to Mr Robinson's mother written on it, which Rene Smith said had been with her father's medals as long as she could remember.

"We are pleased my father's medals and these other things will be kept safe and on display here at the museum," she said. "It's the proper place for them, alongside the people he served with."