A REDDITCH family with strong military ties was celebrating last week after one of its latest generations to serve in the armed forces returned home.

Tom Coyle, 22, from Crabbs Cross, who is with 40 Commando Royal Marines, arrived home safe and well from a tour of Afghanistan.

Tom has followed in his late grandfather Reg Morgan's footsteps, who served in the Marines during the Second World War, and his great uncle Harry Betteridge, who was also a Marine.

And one of the many waiting to welcome Tom home was his brother Jim, 24, who is serving with the Royal Engineers.

Their parents, former Royal Navy petty officer Tom and mum Julie, an ex-Wren, sister Petrina and her two children, Shannon, six, and Holly, two, completed the welcoming committee.