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

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

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

And 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, of Asenby, near Thirsk, has fulfiled her father's wishes by presenting the medal collection to the Richmond Museum.

Sgt 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 MM as a corporal on the Western Front in October 1916, when he helped to rescue a badly wounded man from a shell crater and carried him to safety under heavy fire. His second MM followed his actions on July 28 the following year, by which time he was a 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 in honour of his bravery.

In 1939 the 45-year-old Sgt Hammond was asked to join The Green Howards again. During the war he trained new recruits at their depot in Richmond.

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

Museum curator Major Roger Chapman said: "Sgt 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 us."