Teenager who played for Blackburn Rovers and died in WW2 is remembered

Lancashire teenager Alan Bell had a promising football career with Blackburn Rovers.

Instead the 19-year-old from Lancaster died fighting with the Grenadier Guards liberating a French village during World War Two.

Alan was the only son of John and Alice Bell. So devastated were they by their loss, no-one has ever visited his grave at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in Lille, Northern France.

Pictured in his uniform, Guardsman Alan Bell from Lancaster.

That is until Alan's cousin Pauline Bond from Morecambe made a special trip with her husband to visit his grave back in the 1980's.

Pauline is worried as she grows older, there will be no-one to remember Alan's time with Rovers, and serving with the Grenadier Guards.

Pauline said: "I bought this yellow chrysanthemum in a pot, there were all these white graves, and this yellow chrysanthemum stood out, because it was the only one there, and it was just a focal point with all the white. I was so glad I took it."

Alan's cousin Pauline Bond who is determined he will not be forgotten. Credit: ITV Granada

Lancashire historian and author Steve Williams is working on a project with Blackburn Rovers to find all the men who played for the team, but also fought in conflicts since 1899.

He's been helping Pauline find out more information about her cousin.

Steve said: "What I've found is that Rovers saw him as a budding talent, and they physically signed him.

"We know that. He was registered with the Football League, as a young player for the future."

Guardsman Alan Bell died on 3 September, 1944, liberating the village of Pont-a-Marcq near Lille, France.

He had landed in Normandy on D-Day plus 7 with the Grenadier Guards, and was involved in heavy fighting as the Guards moved south through towns and villages in Northern France.