SOLDIER John Williams had seen such horror in the trenches during World War One that he made plans for his funeral well before his death.

He told his family that when he died he wanted to be cremated and not buried — they believe that decision was made because of his time spent in the trenches in France.

"I feel sure it was because he had seen so much in the trenches he had a fear of being buried," says John's grandson, 78-year-old John Unsworth.

Mr Williams spoke very little about his life in the Army during World War One — he saw plenty of action and was badly injured and could never bring himself to discuss what he had seen.

But since his death his grandson has been determined to find out more about the brave soldier and, along with his cousin, Norma, has pieced together a lot about Mr Williams' war exploits.

But there is still more he hopes to discover including the path his grandfather took after being injured at Gallipoli — although Mr Williams began his Army career in the Lancashire Fusiliers and ended it as a drum major (warrant officer) he is unclear what happened before that.

Mr Williams was born on January 12, 1877 in Bolton. He died on December 31, 1949 aged 72 and that was in Bolton.

Although John believes his grandfather was a reservist he was working as a tram conductor when he signed up to fight says John who lives in Tonge Moor with his 79-year-old wife, Sheila.

He was serving alongside another Bolton tram worker.

"I often wonder what happened to his family and if they know anything about what happened to my grandfather and their relation," says John.

In a cutting from The Chronicle dated September 11, 1915, the headline announces "Tram Men Fighters" and goes on to say that "Boltonians describe thrilling experience" during the "Gallipoli Charge".

It says: "A vivid story of the experiences of two Bolton tram drivers had been received by Mrs Carr of 28, Victory Street in a letter from her husband, Corporal F Carr.

"He, with another tram driver, Sergeant J Williams, joined the 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers last October and was sent to Belton Park, Grantham and was stationed there a few months and then removed to Whitley Camp, Surrey and was in training there until the 4th of July.

"At 12 o' clock midnight of July 4th they left for an unknown destination which turned out to be the Dardanelles.

"They arrived at Devonport about 9am on the 5th and on the way they had a pleasant surprise for when they reached Exeter about 6a, the train stopped and each man got a bag of refreshments.

"They had to go to the boat as soon as they landed at Devonport but did not sail until 6.30pm on Tuesday July 6th on board a White Star liner.

"They had a pleasant voyage and the weather was gloriously fine. They passed Gibraltar on Sunday morning July 11th about 4am and arrived at Malta about 1pm, July 14th. They stopped there four hours, sailing again at 3pm for Alexandria in Egypt.

"They would have liked to have gone ashore at Malta but nobody was allowed.

"They arrived at Alexandria about 8am on Saturday July 17th and stayed there until Monday, taking on baggage for the Dardanelles.

"They all went ashore there and marched through the town and back to the ship.

"They left there at 6.30pm on Monday July 18th.

"On Friday morning, July 23rd, they had to get off the liner and on to a torpedo boat and by that means they went to the advance base.

"They stopped at this base just a fortnight and on Friday morning, August 6th, they got orders to prepare to leave at 4.30pm to make a new landing at the north end of Gallipoli and to try to cut the Turkish lines of communication.

"They got into the boats and all went well until they landed at about 12pm and as soon as the boat landed it was riddled with bullets.

"When the boat ran aground they were fairly in the fray. Bullets were going "ping ping" and humming through the air like bees.

"The Bolton men happened to be in the first party to lead. They had to wade four feet deep in water to get ashore. Getting ashore all right they laid down flat and waited until all the others had landed.

"Everything was ready at last and they got orders to move off quietly to the positions they had to take up. They got there without meeting any opposition, except for one or two snipers.

"They stopped there waiting for the rest of their battalion. Anyhow they never came up and they could not get in touch with them and after moving backwards and forwards several times they got the order to load with 10 rounds.

"They had never loaded until then for if they had run into any of the Turks they had to use nothing but their bayonets.

"They had to dig themselves in before dawn and they had hardly got their entrenching tools out when the Turks poured a rapid volley of fire into them. They all dropped flat on the ground and as soon as the firing stopped they went on digging again but the rain of bullets came again and again. Nobody got hit with them.

"At this time word came down the line that the Turks were advancing in large numbers and it was then the Bolton boys found out how serious their position was."

With Turkish fighters surrounding them — and sea on one side — the story continues: "They had either to fight and win, surrender or be driven into the sea so they got orders to turn to the large body on their right and charge."

To find out more about this dramatic day for two Bolton men more used to collecting coins on the local trams than fighting for their lives see next week's Looking Back in The Bolton News