Benjamin Coe – aged just 15 – wrote to his sister pleading with her to get him out of the madness of trench warfare in northern France.

Young Ben had somehow managed to enlist into the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) despite his tender years, probably by pretending to be older, and bravely set out to fight for his country.

But by 1915, the terrible strain was telling on the youngster, and he was desperate to return home. He sent the letters asking one of his sisters to help him get out on the grounds of being under-age.

He did return home briefly in 1916, when this photograph was taken, but he faced his fears and went back to the front line.

And tragically, with the end of the war just months away, he died of pneumonia in northern France in April, 1918. He is buried in the military cemetery at Etaples, near Boulogne.

The letters were discovered by a relative in Liverpool for the first time this year, and photocopies sent to Fleetwood man Vic Warwick, whose grandmother was another of Ben’s sisters.

Vic, of Hesketh Place, Fleetwood, said: “It’s a terribly moving letter from a very young lad caught up in the hell of trench warfare.

“There are still a lot of relatives connected to him in Fleetwood today, and I thought they would be interested to read about his letter.”

In the letter Ben writes: “All I want is to get out of this country. If you manage it I will thank God the rest of my days but God knows everything and I am sure he will help us in our trouble. Pray for me, I will always follow God’s ways after this.”

In another letter, he writes: “I shall lose my nerve if I am in much longer. Good God, it’s awful. For God’s sake don’t waste time but go to every possible extreme to get me out.”