Sidney Lewis was the youngest British soldier to fight in WW1 after he enlisted in August 1915 at the age of 12.
At the age of 13, he was a Machine gunner with the 106th Machine Gun Company and fought valiantly in the Battle of Delville Woodwhich, which saw some of the worst casualties on the Somme. Lewis was awarded the Victory Medal and British War Medal.
A stocky boy standing at 6ft 2inches, he managed to fool commanding officers because of his size, until his mother sent his birth certificate to the War Office demanding he be sent home.
He re-enlisted in 1918 and fought in WW2.
The British Army recruited 250,000 underaged boys during World War I, to include Reginald Battersby, who at the age of 15, was the youngest known commissioned officer of the British Army of the war and the youngest leader during the Battle of the Somme, being wounded by machinegun fire while going over the top, only to return to duty and lose a leg by artillery during the battle of Ancre.
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