A YOUNG sailor who died in the final year of the First World War when his ship was torpedoed is to be honoured on the anniversary of the day he died.

George Lewis, who came from Llangwm, is to be among 17 servicemen with connections to the village honoured in a series of simple ceremonies throughout.

George Lewis was just 20 years old and serving as an Ordinary Seaman on board HMS Louvain, an armed boarding steamer being used as a troop carrier in the Aegean.

The ship and her destroyer escort, on their way to the Greek island of Limnos, were spotted by a German sub whose commander fired off a single torpedo which struck Louvain and sank her immediately.

George was among 217 men and seven officers who lost their lives; there were 16 survivors, one of whom later spoke of ‘a scramble’ for the only ladder leading to the main deck.

The idea for the commemoration, marking the wartime deaths of all 17 men with Llangwm connections, came originally from Llangwm Local History Society with the support of Llangwm Community Council.

The plan is for the bell of St Jerome’s church, Llangwm, to be tolled on Saturday, January 20, the anniversary of George’s death, at 11 o’clock in the morning.

There will be a short service which will include the reading of the poem For the Fallen by Robert Laurence Binyon which includes the familiar words: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn”.

It’s hoped than any relatives of the dead man will be able to attend.

George Lewis was one of eight children of Benjamin and Elizabeth Lewis who lived for a time in Llangwm. Before the war he worked as a coal miner living at Neath.

The commemoration marking George’s death will be followed on February 17 by that of Percy George Adolph who died at Ypres in 1915.

The other 15 Llangwm men who died during World War 1 will be remembered on their anniversaries through 2018.