Staring at a plaque in his grandmother’s hallway a young boy had no idea that it would be that metal disc which would inspire him to fight on behalf of 1000 dead men, decades later.

Next year, soldiers from Waltham Forest and other London boroughs and up as far as Scotland will be honoured exactly 100 years after their lives were claimed in a brutal battle in a small field in Belgium.

This week reporter Zoie O’Brien talks to Martin Clift who has campaigned to have a memorial built for the men who fell at the Battle of Bellewaarde.

On June 16, 1915, a brutal battle took place with many men engaging in hand to hand combat.

In just 12 hours, 1000 men were killed in a space which measures a half mile square.

Allied soldiers had one objective – to stop the Germans from reinforcing their troops in the south.

Martin Clift from Thurrock, formerly of Chingford, began investigating the battle when he discovered his uncle was one of the teenagers killed on the day.

He has also discovered the names of Waltham Forest men who never made it home, many who fought with The Fourth Battalion Royal London Fusiliers “I had a great uncle who was a soldier, he was my grandmother’s brother and he died in 1915, that’s all I knew,” Mr Clift said.

“I remember seeing the death penny at her house, I liked it because I was a young boy and it had a lion on it.

“It took 18months research but I finally found out what happened to him; he fell in battle at the age of 19.”

Reading the regimental diaries years after the event, Mr Clift was shocked at what he found out.

He said: “The best way of describing the British tactics at that time was three lines of soldiers, the first line would go out once the whistle was blown.

“The second line would follow and the third line would wait for orders. The battle was uphill for the British.

“They made their way towards the second trench armed with hand grenades. Their job was to get to the trenches so the Germans would be killed by the shells, there was a lot of hand to hand combat.

“It was not so easy to move to the third line trench. It was up on a ridge where the Germans could see all the way to Ypres.

“Some of them got to Bellewaarde Lake, just past the farm. They managed to push the Germans back.”

However, the Germans had reinforcements pushing the British back down the hill The area was filled with dust and smoke and the third line of British soldiers made their way in during the confusion.

Those going up met those coming down and there was not enough room in the trenches for everyone causing those left standing to be shot on sight.

Whilst they were successful in stopping the Germans from reinforcing troops, of the 1000 yards of trenches taken, most was given back.

Mr Clift, who visited the site for himself has successfully campaigned to have a memorial built for those killed.

He said: “Standing on the battlefield, 96 years to the day knowing I was the first of his relatives to do so, I felt very emotional.

“It was a strange feeling; I started thinking about not only him, but his friends who died too.

“Many of those who died that day were never found. It became very important to me to have those men recognised.”

Everybody who travels from Menen to Ypres will see the memorial from the roadside, close to the Hooge Crater Museum.

A statue of three soldiers, one British, one Belgian and one German standing back to back will be unveiled on June 16, 2015.

Mr Clift added: “People remember the great battles on Flanders Fields and others, but not many talk about the battle of Bellewaarde. From next year onwards – they will be remembered.”

The following men from Waltham Forest fought in the battle and have no known grave.

Henry Thomas Stebbing of 55 Cassiobury Road, Coppermill Lane; Husband of Edith (formerly Taylor).

Reuben John Wedd of 36 Grange Rd, St. James's St; Son of Reuben John and Rose Wedd.

Harry Charles Plummer of 20 Somerset Road; Son of Harry Robert and Emma Plummer.

Frederick Thompson of 61 Lennox Rd; Son of Walter and Louisa Thompson.