With next year marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, an Oakworth resident has once again returned to the diary of his grandfather, who fought in some of the war’s most horrific battles.

Bernard Morant was just a teenager when he first set off to fight in the Great War, and began a diary of everything he encountered, from friendships with fellow soldiers to the terrifying sights he witnessed on a regular basis.

His family have since transferred his diary to a computer, and it has been passed on to his grandson Karl Morant, a bus driver who lives in Goose Cote Lane.

Bernard, from Leeds, was part of the Royal Field Artillery, and had the distinction of living through the war uninjured, despite fighting at the bloody battles of the Somme, Paschendale and Ypres, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of young men. He was only 17 when he was first shipped out to France.

Talking about some of the horrors in the diary, Mr Morant said: “The Second World War was a tragic thing, but the First World War was about hand-to-hand combat. What strikes me is he was so young at the time.”

Tales in the diary include how Bernard was sat talking to a colleague who was killed by a shot to the head in mid-conversation, and how they would spend an entire day marching on little more than a few biscuits.

During the war, he was promoted, demoted and moved through various different battalions, although parts of the diary are left blank, believed to be because of the Official Secrets Act. For the entire four years of the war he had just a few weeks’ leave.

Also included in the diary is a letter written by the mother of one of his fellow soldiers who died in battle, who invited Bernard to visit her “if you are spared of this great struggle”. There are references to friends who returned home to wives they had not seen in years, only to find them with newborn children.

Bernard went on to live a long life after the war, eventually dying from a heart attack aged 87.

Mr Morant is looking for ways to make copies of the diary available to anyone who is interested, with profits going to Cancer Research UK and the British Legion in honour of his grandfather.