IT was a poignant moment when pensioner Donald Bell held a Victoria Cross at the Green Howards' Museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

The armed forces' highest award for gallantry was awarded to his uncle, Second Lieutenant Donald Bell, and although Mr Bell has often told the story of his uncle's heroism, in 1916, he had not handled the medal before.

Mr Bell, of Harrogate, loaned the decoration to the museum soon after it was founded in 1974. He was invited back yesterday to help mark the year when a memorial was unveiled in France to commemorate the bravery of his uncle, the only professional footballer to be awarded the VC.

Mr Bell, who served on attachment with the RAF in India during the last war, said: "We had it rather easier than the soldiers in the trenches in 1916, but it helped me understand the sacrifices they made.

"I know my grandchildren are also aware of what they went through as they came to France when the memorial to my uncle was unveiled on the Somme this summer and they were awed, both by that and the sheer number of war graves.''

Green Howard Second Lt Bell, who was brought up in Harrogate, was awarded the VC for a single-handed grenade attack on a German machine gun nest, which saved many of his comrades.

He did not live to receive the medal as he was killed five days later while leading a bombing party which successfully drove off a German counter attack.