:00:13. > :00:27.I'm Ricky, coming to you live from Belgium with
:00:28. > :00:35.It wasn't just men who fought in World War I, many were only boys
:00:36. > :00:39.like 14-year-old Horace and whether teenager was too young to join the
:00:40. > :00:45.British Army, but he still ended up fighting in the biggest war the
:00:46. > :00:49.world had ever seen. We are now at war with Germany.
:00:50. > :00:54.Hundreds of thousands of men from all over the country were needed to
:00:55. > :01:01.join the army. In Leeds, trams covered in flags and signs saying
:01:02. > :01:08.the country calls. They recruited almost 1000 men from around here,
:01:09. > :01:13.some factory makers or -- factory workers. One was just 14 years old.
:01:14. > :01:20.Horace looked older than he was because at just 13 he became a
:01:21. > :01:25.blacksmith's assistant, an extremely physical job. He trained to become a
:01:26. > :01:26.painter and a decorator and even sang in the choir here at his local
:01:27. > :01:37.church. Horace lived on this tiny little
:01:38. > :01:42.street in Leeds. When the war began, he decided to follow his father 's
:01:43. > :01:49.footsteps by doing his bit for King and country and he did it by lying
:01:50. > :01:56.about his age. You wanted it that much that he had to live. He didn't
:01:57. > :02:02.know anything about the war. It makes me feel shocked. I would not
:02:03. > :02:06.want to miss my life if I was 14. Ordinary men, neighbours, workmates
:02:07. > :02:11.and family members were encouraged to sign up together. The Army knew
:02:12. > :02:14.their friendships and close bonds would give them strength and see
:02:15. > :02:20.them through on the battlefield. These men were friends and that is
:02:21. > :02:26.why they were called the Powells' battalion. There were many different
:02:27. > :02:29.backgrounds. Horace came from an ordinary background. He would have
:02:30. > :02:35.had to have convinced the officer from the Army that he was older than
:02:36. > :02:39.he was. You had to be 18 or over to fight for your country. But back
:02:40. > :02:44.then it was very difficult to prove your age and the Army needed men.
:02:45. > :02:49.Leeds was a very industrial cities of the work there once was hard and
:02:50. > :02:54.physical, often in factories and it was not that well paid. For a lot of
:02:55. > :03:00.teenage lads, I can see where the Army may have seemed like a better
:03:01. > :03:04.option. -- see how the Army. After two years of training, it is time
:03:05. > :03:10.for Horace to join the war, leaving his home and family behind. I have
:03:11. > :03:14.come to the Somme in France to continue his journey. It is not that
:03:15. > :03:19.far from here that he would have found himself liked weirs from his
:03:20. > :03:25.ordinary life. -- like years. He was a soldier and
:03:26. > :03:30.preparing to go into battle. It would have been a combination of
:03:31. > :03:35.terror and an excitement and nervous dread. There was always the belief
:03:36. > :03:38.that it will never happen to you and the realisation that not everyone
:03:39. > :03:42.will make it through. You can imagine someone as young as Horace
:03:43. > :03:47.would have felt far away from home and that is why letters from loved
:03:48. > :03:53.ones were important. His sister wrote to him often. In this letter,
:03:54. > :03:56.she begs him to come home. My dear Horace, tell them how old
:03:57. > :04:03.you are, I am sure they will send you back. But Horace never got the
:04:04. > :04:09.letter and he died along with 20,000 other men on the first day of the
:04:10. > :04:12.bloodiest battle of the war. The letter was returned unopened stating
:04:13. > :04:17.that Horace had been killed in action. The Battle of the Somme was
:04:18. > :04:22.pretty disastrous and we know that 250 of the battalion was killed on
:04:23. > :04:27.the 1st of July, including Horace. We followed his story from Leeds to
:04:28. > :04:34.here in France and this is where he was laid to rest. 100 years on,
:04:35. > :04:38.after the First World War, these war cemeteries are a stark reminder of
:04:39. > :04:42.what happened and have a huge loss of life. The teenager was so eager
:04:43. > :04:49.to fight for his country that he lied about his age. He was not the
:04:50. > :04:53.only one. 250,000 underage soldiers often fought alongside adults. For
:04:54. > :05:02.many, it was the last thing they did, they never returned home.
:05:03. > :05:05.We will have many more extraordinary stories over the next few days.
:05:06. > :05:06.Goodbye.