Cenotaph service for Iraq soldier

Llywelyn Evans was one of the first casualties of the war

A soldier killed on the first day of the war in Iraq has been honoured in his home town of Llandudno.

The name of Lance Bombardier Llywelyn Evans, the first soldier from the area to be killed in action since the Second World War, has been added to the town's seafront cenotaph.

Many of Lance Bombardier Evans friends at Llandudno Rugby Club attended the Remembrance Sunday ceremony instead of watching the Rugby World Cup clash between Wales and England on TV.

The soldier - who was known as Welly to his friends - was one of 12 servicemen who died when an American Sea Knight helicopter crashed in the desert.

The 24-year-old was a Royal Artilleryman attached to the Royal Marines, and he was one of six young men from the same street who went out to serve in the Gulf.

His brother Lee, 20, was also serving on the front line.

Billy Evans, President of the Llandudno branch of the Royal British Legion, said: "What was so tragic about Llywelyn's death is that it was an accident.

'Hell'

"He must have been a tremendous soldier after hearing the tributes that were paid to him by people at his funeral, which included his commanding officer.

"And we will be thinking about his family who have gone through hell and we feel for his brother who is still in the regiment."

Mr Evans said a portrait of the lance bombardier had been unveiled at the town's Royal British Legion.

The Royal British Legion and town council remembered the soldier

Gordon Evans, Llywelyn Evan's father attended the ceremony at the town's cenotaph.

Before the ceremony he said: "Before it was for the older generations...my grandfather's time, but now the significance has come back...and young lads even today are losing their lives for their country.

"To think of all the thousands of people in Llandudno who've done National Service and joined the Armed Forces, he was the first to be killed."

The Remembrance Day service was held in Llandudno's Holy Trinity Church on Sunday, followed by a two-minute silence, prayers and wreath-laying at the cenotaph.

Many members of Llandudno Rugby club's under 16's team specially requested to be able to go in their club ties and pay their respects to the soldier, a fellow player.

Community centre

The plaque was purchased by Llandudno's Town Council.

Town clerk Toby Prosser said: "Losing somebody from your own town brings it home to people how very real the conflict in Iraq is."

During the war Llywelyn Evan's comrades honoured him by unofficially naming a captured bridge in Basra 'Welly Bridge' after him.

So high was he held in local people's affections that a Llandudno community centre has already been named after him.

His family had to endure two funerals after more of the soldier's remains were found in the wreckage of the US helicopter in which he died.