Members of the Royal British Legion, local dignitaries and the general public are expected to turn up in force to pay their respects to Serjeant Phillip Scott and other servicemen outside Malton Museum as they mark Remembrance Day at 11am.

The 30-year-old, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died when an improvised explosive device exploded in northern Helmand on Thursday.

His body, along with those of five other servicemen, was returned to RAF Lyneham yesterday where there was a private service for families before a cortege passed through nearby Wootton Bassett in front of hundreds of people.

Sjt Scott's platoon was attached to B Company during a clearance operation in the town of Sangin aimed at increasing security for local Afghans and preparing the ground for further operations.

The father-of-two lived in Edinburgh with wife Ellen and children Ellie, three, and Michael, one.

Mrs Scott paid tribute to her husband. She said: "My husband was a very brave man, loved by all his family and a very dear husband and father."

Jason Fitzgerald-Smith, the mayor of Malton who served with 3rd Dragoon guards and Royal Artillery, said: "It brings it all closer to us that somebody from our town has sadly become a victim of the war in Afghanistan.

"I will be very much thinking of his family as you think of all these lads who have been casualties of this war.

''It's just terribly sad. I was very touched at the war memorial on Sunday by the volume of people who came out to pay their respects and I'm sure they were all thinking about this lad."

Paul Farndale, the mayor of Norton and a member of the Malton, Norton & District Royal British Legion, said it was "very moving" for himself and others at a Festival of Remembrance concert on Friday when Rev John Manchester spoke about the death of Sjt Scott.

"It was a sad and even though we didn't know him, it has brought it home to Ryedale.

''It just shows we are not immune to people from our town dying in Afghanistan.

''He was a soldier, he knew what he was doing and loved what he was doing, apparently.