Remembrance Day teenager will not forget

As part of the commemorations Archie Smoker, 13, from Hamble will place a cross on the village war memorial in memory of Lance Corporal Charles Taylor.

Archie, a pupil at the Gregg School, had never heard of Charles until he was asked to research a name from the memorial as part of First World War history project.

Charles, a member of the Royal Engineers, came from a well-known family in the village. He lived in School Lane, in a house which still stands, with his parents and five brothers and sisters.

Before joining up he was a joiner who worked for the family building business.

The Taylors also ran a coal merchants and an undertakers.

Archie discovered that he was killed on September 4, 1917, aged 31, somewhere in fighting near Ypres and is buried at the Bleuet War Cemetery with the 35 others from his regiment.

The youngster had travelled to Belgium on a school trip to the see the Great War battlefields and cemeteries.

The party visited Ypres, where they laid a wreath at the famous Menin Gate memorial, and also laid wreath at the German cemetery at Langemark.

During the trip the pupils visited the notorious Hill 62, the scene of fierce fighting in 1916 between Canadian and German troops, where they looked at a surviving trench.

“It gave you a feel for the conditions that the men had to live in – it was awful,” said Archie.

He added: “I’ve always been interested in the First World War and this has given me a real insight into what people went through.”

Archie was particularly startled to find that the youngest soldier to die in the war was 14-year-old Private John Condon was – just a year older than him.

He was one of thousands who lied about their age to get into uniform.

A Remembrance Sunday Service will take at Hamble War Memorial at St Andrews Church at 10.45am.

On Remembrance Sunday there will be larger ceremony at the War Memorial at St Edwards Church in Netley Abbey, which will remember the dead from both Hamble and Netley Abbey.

The service at Netley usually has between 400 and 500 youngsters attending from Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies who will march from Royal Victoria Country Park to the church for the service, which starts at 10.45am.