The Belgian grave of a First World War soldier untouched by a son who was never able to visit it will be decorated by his family for the first time.

Private James Henry Street served with the Second Battalion Yorkshire regiment, The Green Howards, and died defending Ypres, Belgium, from the Germans.

But his family only discovered he had a grave in 1988.

His son, also called James, who fought in North Africa and Italy during World War Two, never made the traumatic trip to the battlefield and died in 1994.

But now granddaughter Joyce Harrop, from Toller Grove, Heaton, has sent a poppy across with soldiers' families visiting Ypres today in an emotional remembrance.

The 50-year-old said: "It's nice to know there is a memorial to my grandfather there. One day I will visit it - I know my dad always wanted to and I'm sure it will be quite an experience.

"I was told all these tales about my granddad but we always thought there would be no grave because he was killed by a shell and there would be no body.

"Then, in 1988, I was listening to a radio programme and they said soldiers killed in the war had some sort of memorial.

"I spoke to my dad and we contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which wrote back saying he had died at the age of 28 and was buried in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, four miles south east of Ypres."

The family had been planning to visit ever since the discovery but Mr Street, who ran a chiropodists in Sackville Street, Bradford, was taken ill soon after and died in 1994.

The five-day trip has been organised by the Bradford branch of the Mechanics Library History Group and the Lancashire Western Front Associations.

Another woman on the moving visit is Judy Luckett, from Bingley, who will be tracing the footsteps of her father Thomas Crosby, a soldier with the Royal Warwicks Regiment.

She said: "I was asked to go on the trip by Geoffrey Barker, who is helping to organise it, and suddenly thought I would like to but realised how little I knew about the war.

"My father never really talked about it seriously, only telling funny stories occasionally. It's a whole side of my dad's life I never knew about and really want to find out more."

She will also try to visit the grave of her dad's best friend Jack Billing, from Emm Lane, Bradford, who was killed in September, 1918, and buried in Vaulx Hill Cemetery, near the Sommes in France.

Any family of Mr Billing can contact Mrs Luckett through the T & A on 01274 705378.

Mr Barker, from Toller Grove, said the Mechanics group started planning the trip about two years ago and teamed up with the Lancashire Western Front Associations.

"There will be a few people visiting family graves for the first time and it will be quite a trip for everyone," he said.

To find out more about the Mechanics Library History Group, ring 01274 722857.

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