Youngsters from a York secondary school, retracing the steps of Allied soldiers killed in the First World War, today laid a wreath where a great-uncle of a member of staff fell in action - exactly 80 years ago to the day.
It is the fourth year in which children from Millthorpe School have made the trip to the Somme and Ypres as part of their modern history studies.
But this year's four-day trip to the battlefields and cemeteries of France and Belgium is expected to be even more poignant because of a staggering coincidence.
Research by Millthorpe drama teacher Rob Thomson, 53, has revealed his great-uncle, Private Alfred Bayles, of the Second Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918.
He died at Pozieres on March 27, just a couple of months short of his 21st birthday.
By chance, the school party from Millthorpe were due to
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