A SPECIAL Remembrance Day tribute was held at at the headstone of a Bolton-born soldier buried in Flanders, Belgium.

Private Harry Haslam died aged 19 as a prisoner of war while serving in the First World War and is buried in Ronse.

The service at the town's old cemetery was attended by the civic dignitaries and representatives from the army, police and fire brigade.

The people of Ronse were also joined by veterans of the Second World War.

The cemetery was lit by torches, with one placed on each corner of their graves by actors dressed in Belgian WW1 army trench coats.

Nadine Dezaeytijd of the Historical Society of Ronse spent time researching Private Haslam earlier this year and contacted The Bolton News hoping to find relatives who might have photographs or further information about him.

The soldier, who received two war medals, was born in 1899 and grew up in 15 Caledonia Street before moving to 119 Chorley Road.

He initially enlisted himself voluntarily for one year of home service but eventually signed up for four years with the territorial force.

As a prisoner of war, he was taken to a factory in Ronse and died six months later. He is buried next to another British soldier named George Woolway.

Mrs Dezaeytijd described the commemoration as a "very serene and yet enduring special ceremony and tribute to those two heroes."

She spoke at the ceremony, giving an account of the life and death of the soldier and read The Exhortation, after which a minute's silence was observed.

The mayor and a town councillor lay a wreath of fresh flowers on his grave, followed by a military salute and a Peace Tree was planted to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

The service ended with the Last Post played by a bugler of the town fire brigade.