:00:13. > :00:17.Good morning. I'm Ricky, coming to you live from Belgium with a very
:00:18. > :00:21.special Newsround as the world prepares to remember 100 years since
:00:22. > :00:24.the start of World War I. Over the last week, I have travelled through
:00:25. > :00:28.France and Belgium, where many soldiers lost their lives, to bring
:00:29. > :00:33.you some of their stories. This morning, we have come to wayward in
:00:34. > :00:38.the town of Ypres. You can see maybe some of the World War I trenches,
:00:39. > :00:42.which remind you of what the British troops went through a hundred years
:00:43. > :00:44.ago. But it was not just men who fought in the war, many were the
:00:45. > :00:49.boys, like Horace. The 40-year-old was just a teenager and too young to
:00:50. > :00:52.join the British Army, but that did not stop him ending up here and
:00:53. > :01:00.fighting in the biggest war the world had ever seen. We are now at
:01:01. > :01:04.war with Germany. When the war started, thousands of men from all
:01:05. > :01:11.over the country were needed to join the army. In Leeds, trams covered in
:01:12. > :01:14.lights and flags with signs saying the country calls made their way
:01:15. > :01:17.through the streets. They recruited almost a thousand men from around
:01:18. > :01:24.here. Some were factory workers, shoe makers or bus drivers, and one
:01:25. > :01:27.was just 14. Horace looked older than he was, because at just 13,
:01:28. > :01:34.after leaving school, he became a lack Smith's assist, and extremely
:01:35. > :01:37.physical job. He later trained the become a painter and decorator, and
:01:38. > :01:48.he even sang in the choir at his local church. Horace lived on this
:01:49. > :01:53.tiny street in Leeds. When the war began, he decided to follow in his
:01:54. > :01:58.father's footsteps by doing his bit for King and country. And he did it
:01:59. > :02:05.by lying about his age. He wanted it that much that he had to lie. He did
:02:06. > :02:09.not know anything about the war. He did not have any life experience. It
:02:10. > :02:15.makes me feel shocked because if I were 14, I would not want to miss my
:02:16. > :02:19.life. Ordinary men, neighbours, workmates and family members were
:02:20. > :02:24.encouraged to sign up together. The Army knew that their friendships and
:02:25. > :02:28.closed ones would give them strength and see them through on the
:02:29. > :02:31.battlefields. These men were mates, and that was why they were called
:02:32. > :02:37.the Powers' battalion. There were lots of different of backgrounds of
:02:38. > :02:41.people who joined the Leeds pals. Horace came from an ordinary
:02:42. > :02:43.background. He would have to have convinced the officer from the Army
:02:44. > :02:47.who was gritting him that he was older than he was. You had to be 18
:02:48. > :02:51.or older to fight for your country, but back then, it was very difficult
:02:52. > :02:57.to prove your age, and the Army needed men. Leeds was a very
:02:58. > :03:02.industrial city, so the work there was was hard, physical work, often
:03:03. > :03:07.in factories. It was not well paid. So for a lot of teenage lad, I can
:03:08. > :03:14.see why the army might have seemed a better option. After two years of
:03:15. > :03:20.training, it was time for Horace to join the war, leaving his home and
:03:21. > :03:24.family behind. I have come to the Somme in France to continue
:03:25. > :03:27.Horace's journey. It is not far from here that he would have found
:03:28. > :03:32.himself light-years away from the ordinary life he was used to in
:03:33. > :03:37.Leeds. Horace was now a soldier, and preparing to go into battle. It
:03:38. > :03:42.would have been a combination of terror, excitement and anticipation
:03:43. > :03:47.and nervous dread. There was always the belief that it will never to
:03:48. > :03:51.happen to me, and there was the realisation that not everybody will
:03:52. > :03:55.make it. You give imagine that someone as young as Horace would
:03:56. > :04:00.have felt very far from home. But was why letters from loved ones were
:04:01. > :04:03.very important. His sister Flory wrote to him often. In this letter,
:04:04. > :04:09.she begged him to come home. Dear Horace, tell them how old you are. I
:04:10. > :04:13.am sure they will send you back if they know you are only 16. But
:04:14. > :04:17.Horace never got the letter. He died, along with 20,000 other men,
:04:18. > :04:22.and the first day of the bloodiest battle in the world. The letter was
:04:23. > :04:27.returned unopened, stating that Horace had been killed in action.
:04:28. > :04:30.The Battle of the Somme was disastrous for the Leeds pals.
:04:31. > :04:35.Nearly 250 of them were killed on the 1st of July, including Horace.
:04:36. > :04:41.We followed Horace's story all the way from Leeds to here in France.
:04:42. > :04:43.This is where he is laid to rest, alongside his pals, the people he
:04:44. > :04:47.fought with. 100 years after the First World War, these war
:04:48. > :04:51.cemeteries are a stark reminder of what happened and the huge loss of
:04:52. > :04:56.life. The teenager was eager to fight for his country that he lied
:04:57. > :05:03.about his age, and he was not the only one. Eager soldiers often
:05:04. > :05:10.fought alongside adults. For many of them, it was the last thing they
:05:11. > :05:14.did. They never returned home. There is a range of programmes on
:05:15. > :05:18.CBBC remembering World War I. I leave you with a taster of what you
:05:19. > :05:24.can expect from Newsround over the next few days. See ya.
:05:25. > :05:29.This is what life would have been like for the soldiers in the
:05:30. > :05:33.trenches. It would have been wet, muddy, and endless network of
:05:34. > :05:36.corridors that were built and propped up with these corrugated
:05:37. > :05:41.sheets of metal. Hospitals like this were so
:05:42. > :05:45.important during World War I, not just for the soldiers, but they have
:05:46. > :05:49.a lasting impact on the whole society.
:05:50. > :05:53.How do you go to the toilet without a toilet? Wonderful things called
:05:54. > :05:58.buckets. So nope reversing. None at all. Even
:05:59. > :06:03.animals played their part.