At just 15 years old, teenagers these days would not even have finished their secondary education and would be more concerned with football or fashion than war.

But when the First World War broke out in August 1914, Louis Walter Gough, born in Clyffe Pypard but living in Purton, decided to visit Devizes and enlist in the Army.

He was just 15 years, four months and five days old but he had told the enlistment officer he was three years older - 18 years and 120 days.

He qualified to join the military and, according to his wish, was posted to the Royal Field Artillery but was not yet of age to serve at the front until he was 19.

Once the Army believed him to be of age, he set off from Southampton on 30 July 1915 for Le Havre, aged just 16, and served in the battlefields of France.

A labourer while at home, Louis was likely used to hard graft but he was admitted to hospital on 28 August 1915 with a hernia and spent a month resting.

Upon leaving hospital he was posted to several different units throughout the rest of 1915 and 1916 until, in May, he was discharged from the Army for being underage on enlistment - a criminal offence.

While he had only just turned 17, his commanding officer saw fit to praise his character upon discharge, and described Louis as a "bright, intelligent, willing lad who had the pluck to enlist aged 15 years, has been at the front for seven months".

Historian Bob Lloyd, who has been researching Purton's war history, has said it is still not known how the Army came to find out he was underage.

"The boy soldier story is interesting," he said.

"If a family came forward with a birth certificate the Army were supposed to be duty-bound to release them but often they would hold them back until they were of age.

"Whether Louis' family came forward to 'claim him' we don't know but even when they discharged him he was still not of military age. He didn't enlist again when they brought the age for serving at the front down to 18, so maybe he had seen enough."

Bob, 44, has written several books on Purton's war and for more information visit www.purton1418.co.uk.