The two great wars of the 20th Century left every town, village and suburb with stories waiting to be told: of tragic deaths in action, heroic deeds, lives pointlessly lost or sacrificed for the greater good.

Yet not all towns, villages and suburbs are fortunate enough to have someone like Dan Eaton to research and chronicle those stories, as he has done for Clayton.

The 26-year-old teacher at Clayton CE Primary School developed a childhood fascination with the First World War when he began collecting militaria. He has since contributed to the archives and projects of various groups and museums, such as the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Harewood House.

Now his interest and enthusiasm have resulted in the publication of a book, At the Going Down of the Sun..., containing the stories of all the men in the Bradford village who died during the two global conflicts.

The project was inspired by a visit to Clayton Parish Church on an art trip from the school.

"I found myself drawn towards the two huge marble panels set underneath the grandiose bell tower of the church," says Dan. "There I saw, to my amazement, inscriptions not entirely dissimilar to those found on the major monuments to the lost in France and Belgium, such as Thiepval or Tyne Cot: the names went on and on, some surnames cropping up together again and again.

"Standing in that archway, enclosed on two sides by monuments to the lost, I realised that this village suffered appallingly during the 1914-18 conflict and, in most cases, all that remained of their sacrifice was embedded in that cold stone."

So he began his extensive researches: poring over T&A reports, digging into files at Central Library and church records, contacting families. He spent three years pulling all the information together and tracking down photographs of the lost Clayton men.

Having assembled the stories of the victims of the First World War, he moved on to the men whose lives were lost in the 1939-45 conflict. There were far fewer of them - ten compared to more than 100 - but as he says, that does not make their sacrifice any less.

With the number of veterans of the First World War dwindling fast, he acknowledges that soon there will be no-one alive who experienced the horrors of trench warfare.

"It is vitally important that we, in the present, start to think of these soldiers as individuals and men, as opposed to a name on a gradually fading memorial," he writes.

And what men they were, fired with the sort of patriotism that drove Willie Ambler to travel from Clayton to King's Norton, Worcestershire, shortly after the war broke out and join the local Territorial regiment.

Dan suggests that he had probably been turned down by the Bradford units because of his age. He was just 16. At King's Norton he added six years and was sworn into the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He arrived in France in the middle of 1915 and a year later was badly injured in the chest.

"He had been luckier than many who were fighting at this time, as he had received a blighty' (a wound which was serious enough to be sent back to Britain to recuperate at home)," Dan writes. That didn't mean his war was over. Like many who had been seriously wounded and patched up, Private Ambler returned to active service after recuperating in Clayton.

"This was in early 1917," continues the author. "Willie survived a further ten months in the filth and mud that was the British trench system until he was killed in action around St Julien in 1917 and was laid to rest in a field cemetery, where he remains to this day." He was still only 19.

Willie Ambler's story is typical rather than exceptional. These were brave young men from ordinary lives who signed up with high hopes of soon returning home in triumph, endured months and years of the stresses and conditions we can only envisage in our worst nightmares, and too often gave their lives for their country. Dan Eaton has done them, and their village, a great service by keeping their memories alive through such a thorough and admirable book.

Dan Eaton will be signing copies of his book at Clayton Library at 3pm on Thursday, August 2, and will be giving a talk about it in the evening (6pm). Advance registration for the talk is recommended.

  • At the Going Down of the Sun... The Men From Clayton Who Died in the Two World Wars, is published by Roundtuit Publishing, 32 Cookes Wood, Broompark, Durham DH7 7RL, at £7.50. Half of all profits will be donated to the Royal British Legion. It is available from Daley's Bookshop, Great Horton Road, by e-mail from claytoncasualties@btinternet.com or direct from the author.