FOR Sergeant Mandy Hart, a visit to her regiment's museum is always something to look forward to.

As well as showing cadets more about the Green Howards' traditions, she can show them the Victoria Cross won by her grandfather.

Sgt Hart, 35, helps run the Saltburn Detachment of C Company, part of the Cleveland Army Cadet Force.

She lives at Liverton Mines, east Cleveland, and is the granddaughter of Stan Hollis, the only soldier to win the Victoria Cross on D-Day.

He was awarded the medal for acts of bravery at Crpon, where he rescued two of his men trapped by enemy fire and, earlier at Gold Beach, where he almost single-handedly captured two pillboxes on the Mont Fleury Battery.

His VC has pride of place at the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire,which Mandy has just visited with her cadets.

Museum curator Roger Chapman said: "We are delighted to see Mandy when she comes to the museum with her cadets and we are delighted that, like her grandfather, she is wearing the Green Howards badge.

"She and all the cadets who visit discover a great deal about the regiment from their evening here, and are very interested in our displays.

"We hope that, by coming into contact with the real life of our soldiers in the past, they will be proud that they themselves represent part of the regiment's future."