Remembrance 90

It's September 1914 and war has already broken out in Europe. Charles Lewin, the headmaster of Radstock Church School and the chairman of the Somerset Football Association, is addressing the Somerset FA Council (read by Hugh Webb).

A letter sent by Private Alfred Dowling of the 1st Battalion, The Coldstream Guards, to his father (read by Paul Ring).

Private Dowling was wounded twice more in 1915 and died in 1916. But the impact of the war was felt as much by those left behind. School boy Charles Smith talks about how he felt (read by Richard Green).

Private Francis Oakley

With the conflict underway in Europe every town and village began to feel the effects. Schoolboy Austin Wookey shares his experiences (read by Simon Eade).

The first experiences of France could be shocking for the young men sent to fight. In July 1916 Private Francis Oakley - who was so young he looks more like a boy then a man - began his war (read by Marine Tom Simmonds).

Sammy Taylor joined the Coldstream guards in 1912. He'd had enough of working down the mines in Midsomer Norton. By August 1916 he found himself on the Somme filling in for a stretcher bearer who'd been killed (read by Matt Hayward).

But the war was taking people further afield than France. And to places whose names alone were enough to strike fear into the heart of a young man, such as Private Stan Small from Nov 1915 (read by Jeremy Hunt).

Marine Lee Walker serves for 40 Commando

Soldiers fighting in the trenches would occasionally get home leave. In October 1917, schoolboy Ivan Chard who was looking forward to seeing his Uncle again.

Many of the young men who went to war were more than happy to volunteer. Private Tommy Atkins lied about his age so he could join the Royal Engineers when he was only 16. By 1918 he was an experienced soldier (read by Marine Lee Walker, who has served in Afghanistan with 40 Commando).

As a member of the armed forces, Marine Lee Walker talks about what stood out most in the story.

George Taylor was a carting boy working in the mines of Midsomer Norton. He signed up with the Somerset Light Infantry when he was only 16. He survived the trenches on the Somme and in 1917 also served at Flanders (read by Mike Plummer).

Lieutenant Douglas McMurtie was an officer with the Somerset Light Infantry. In 1918 he was fighting a desperate rear-guard action in Flanders (read by Nick Earl).

So what was it like on this day as the war ended?

Private Tommy Atkins (read by Marine Lee Walker), Lieutenant Douglas McMurtie (read by Nick Earl), Sammy Taylor (read by Matt Hayward) tell their stories.

Extracts taken from No Thankful Village, by Chris Howell, published by Fickle Hill.