Cadets learn about sacrifices on France trip
An army cadet from Bourne has laid a cross at Thiepval Memorial in France to remember her relatives who served during the First World War.
Cadets from Lincolnshire Army Cadet Force (ACF) took part in a three-day trip to Northern France as part of a national campaign to mark 100 years since the Armistice and give the cadets a greater insight into what life was like for soldiers in the trenches.
During the tour cadets visited battlefields and re-created trench systems to learn more about the conditions faced by soldiers, were given talks by historians about how the war developed, the technology used and the impact it had upon the 20th Century.
The tour then culminated in a parade at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
In preparation for the battlefield tour the cadets were asked to research their family’s involvement in the First World War.
Cadet Adriana Thompson, aged 13, discovered that she had four relatives who served in the First World War.
At Thiepval Adriana laid a cross at the memorial where her great uncle, James Henry Smith who died in action, aged 19, on October 23 1916, is remembered.
James was in the 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. He’s also remembered at memorial in Bourne.
Colonel Jeremy Field, a senior adult volunteer and Commandant of Lincolnshire ACF, said: “It was a great privilege to attend with cadets from Lincolnshire ACF as part of the Somme battlefields tour in France followed by a special service of remembrance at the Thiepval Memorial.
"The cadets were humbled to read the inscriptions on the graves of those who died, many of whom were only a few years older than themselves.”