CLYDEBANK pupils have had a lesson in history like no other thanks to a tour of the memorials of the First World War.

A group of youngsters from Clydebank High travelled to France and Belgium to learn the horrors of war and put powerful images to their history classes and statistics.

The tour included the Black Watch Corner Memorial, Hill 62, the memorials at Thiepval, Vimy and Le Touret and Menin Gate.

But pupils also visited a number of German cemeteries and also Dig Hill 80, where a number of previously unidentified soldiers were buried.

Chloe Boyd, 16, from Parkhall, said she has always been interested in history and went on a previous school trip to the war graves.

But now aged 16, this journey meant more to her.

She told the Post: “I think it was a lot different this time. It was better because we are older and appreciate it more.

“We went to a lot of memorials and to the Germany cemetery as well. We don’t usually commemorate the Germans - it always focuses on the British side and see the Germans as baddies.

“The Germans side had young boys die as well. It really changed my perspective. You always think of Germany as bad people, but nobody was really bad and they were fighting for the same reason.”

The group of about 30 pupils were driven to Hull and then took the ferry to Zeebrugge for the trip last month - and they have continued to thank organisers on Twitter with their own pictures and memories under #CHS1918.

Lucy Bowers, 16, from Radnor Park, said: “We looked at a lot of the German perspective and their grave yards are not treated as nicely.

“I really had not given the Germans much thought before. We automatically label them as the reason we’re in the war. But those were sons and brothers and fathers that had to fight.

“The most sad day was when we went to Dig Hill 80. They had just discovered 12 bodies in a mass grave the week before. It was emotional to see but also quite hopeful that people are finding them and they will get the proper memorial.”

Clydebank Post:

IN 1917, a pupil from Clydebank was killed in the First World War.

And 101 years later, Bankie pupils paid special tribute to his sacrifice during their tour of French and Belgian battlegrounds.

James Hunter Porteous was born on March 3, 1890 in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. His father, Robert, was an iron moulder and the family lived at 6 Dumbarton Road before moving to 8 Montrose Street in Kilbowie.

He was educated at Clydebank School and later taught at Dalmuir School before serving from 1914, later rising to captain in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

History pupils at Clydebank High have been studying Capt Porteous and the trip to Ypres Reservoir Cemetery allowed them to lay a wreath in his memory.

Lucy Bowers said seeing James’s grave was a “stand-out memory” from the trip.

She told the Post: “Often a lot of figures are thrown at us and it’s hard to visualise them. But finding out about personal stories really helps.

“There was almost a sense of closure having researched so long and finally being able to see his final resting place. He was someone personal to us and to Clydebank.”

Chloe Boyd added: “It put things in perspective. When it’s someone who lived so close and went to the same places and the same journeys...we got to go home and he never did.

“So many people died and it’s important we don’t forget that and I think it’s important to see it for yourself and experience it, and that’s when you actually realise how many died and how similar they are to us now.”