:00:11. > :00:12.Good morning, I'm Ayshah with Thursday's stories.
:00:13. > :00:15.First up, a statue of a nurse, called Mary Seacole is being
:00:16. > :00:20.It's the first one in the UK dedicated to a black woman.
:00:21. > :00:23.Children's author Malorie Blackman, who campaigned for the statue,
:00:24. > :00:28.If anyone deserves a statue, it is Mary Seacole.
:00:29. > :00:34.She was a healer, a businesswoman, and a traveller, which was really
:00:35. > :00:44.Black Britons who have been written out of the history books,
:00:45. > :00:47.I think it is wonderful that we are now beginning
:00:48. > :00:56.Go to Newsround online for my full report on Mary Seacole's statue.
:00:57. > :00:58.Next, we've got the incredible story of the 12-year-old
:00:59. > :01:19.Good morning. Yes, it is 100 years since the battle of the sun. Here is
:01:20. > :01:22.a little fact cash it is called that because of the river Somme, which
:01:23. > :01:28.runs through the area where the fighting happens. World War I was a
:01:29. > :01:32.massive war, so it needed a lot of people. Lots of the man who signed
:01:33. > :01:35.up were very young, just teenagers. Some were even younger than that.
:01:36. > :01:39.Sidney Lewis was just 12 years old when he signed up. His son Colin
:01:40. > :01:41.tells us his father's incredible story.
:01:42. > :01:47.When I was a boy, my father told me that he fought in World War I as a
:01:48. > :01:53.soldier will stop and I regret to say that I didn't believe him. After
:01:54. > :02:00.all, he was only -- he would only have been 12 years old at the time.
:02:01. > :02:09.But at just 12, my dad, Sidney George Lewis, decided they did want
:02:10. > :02:13.to join up to fight for his country. Like many young lads, he must have
:02:14. > :02:18.got caught up in the excitement and idea of adventure. That is what he
:02:19. > :02:25.was like. He always wanted to be where the action was. But you had to
:02:26. > :02:27.be 18, a grown-up, to be in the army, so he ran away from home
:02:28. > :02:30.without telling any of his family, and when he was asked when
:02:31. > :02:36.recruitment officer, he lied about his age. It seems incredible now
:02:37. > :02:44.that a 12-year-old could end up in the middle of a world war.
:02:45. > :02:52.So there he was, sent to France to fight for his country.
:02:53. > :02:57.He was sent to fight on the Somme. It must have been a shark for this
:02:58. > :03:01.boy from London, suddenly plunged into the middle of the war. I can't
:03:02. > :03:09.imagine the sort of things he must have seen. -- a shock.
:03:10. > :03:12.The fields weren't fields any more. The war had churned everything
:03:13. > :03:20.Samad, and the sky was black with smoke. -- churned everything to mud.
:03:21. > :03:28.There was no birdsong, no animals. He must have seen a lots of men, a
:03:29. > :03:34.loss of his friends, died. To face all that and keep going, at
:03:35. > :03:41.such a young age, he must have been very brave and very tough boy.
:03:42. > :03:48.Back home, his mum, my grandmother, was worried. The newspapers were
:03:49. > :03:59.full of stories of tens of thousands of men dying in France. She found
:04:00. > :04:02.Sidney's birth certificates, and sent it to the army, demanding that
:04:03. > :04:07.he was sent home straightaway safely, because after all, he was
:04:08. > :04:11.still a kid. But by now, Sidney was right in the middle of fighting in
:04:12. > :04:17.one of the most deadly battles of the Somme. The fighting was so
:04:18. > :04:24.fierce that all but one of the trees were burnt to black stumps, blown to
:04:25. > :04:28.bits by shells and machine gun fire. His mum must have been very worried
:04:29. > :04:35.about him out there, risking his life. With the message to bring him
:04:36. > :04:40.back reach his superiors before it was too late? It would have been a
:04:41. > :04:46.race against time. But it did reach them. Six weeks of fighting in one
:04:47. > :04:49.of the most dangerous battle in the entire war, and Sidney was pulled
:04:50. > :05:00.back from the front line and sent home.
:05:01. > :05:10.That letter which grandmother sent probably saved his life.
:05:11. > :05:17.So my dad, Sidney Lewis, came back. At the age of 12, he joined in one
:05:18. > :05:22.of the deadliest world wars, and a year later, came back alive.
:05:23. > :05:26.Fascinating stuff. You can go to our website for more on this.
:05:27. > :05:29.Just time to tell you about the tennis match
:05:30. > :05:41.British qualifier Marcus Willis has ended his Wimbledon run
:05:42. > :05:47.Willis has called playing Federer a fairy tale. Willis lost out in the
:05:48. > :05:49.second round. He will now take home ?50,000 as prize money. Good for
:05:50. > :05:50.him. Newsround's back on CBBC with Ricky
:05:51. > :05:58.this afternoon at 4:20. Have a great day, and we'll see you
:05:59. > :05:59.soon. Bye-bye.