BOLTON musician Badly Drawn Boy has revealed heartbreaking details of the tragedy that befell his family during the Second World War.

The Mercury Prize winning singer songwriter, whose real name is Damon Gough, shared the tragic story of his grandfather, Private William Gough, who was killed in action aged 34, in a series of tweets which were liked over 3,500 times.

Gough, 51, who grew up in Breightmet, wrote: “My dad was two or three when his father was killed in WW2.

“They recovered his wallet with a letter which had a hole through it. He’d been stabbed with a bayonet. The letter said: ‘How’s little Rick’ (my Dad) I can’t remember what he looks like’.

“I didn’t realise sharing this tweet would make me tearful. I know it’s very sad but that’s why it’s our duty to ‘Never Forget’ those who lost their lives, and those whose lives were shattered by that loss.”

Private Gough, who was from Stockport, was part of the East Yorkshire Regiment 5th Battalion when he was killed fighting in France on August 12, 1944.

The 5th Battalion was formed in June 1939 as a 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate of the 4th Battalion.

It served with the 69th Infantry Brigade in the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division and was evacuated from Dunkirk. The battalion later served with 50th (Northumbrian) Division through the Western Desert, Tunisian and Sicily campaigns before landing in the first wave on Gold Beach on D Day and then fighting through Normandy and North West Europe.

Breightmet-born Gough shared a photograph of his grandfather’s grave at Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery in Normandy which contains 990 Commonwealth burials and 232 German graves.

The inscription reads: “To Live In The Hearts Of Those He Loved is Not To Die”.