Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1973, Fusilier Charles John Marchant, 3rd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, died from gunshot wounds sustained ten weeks earlier in Northern Ireland.

He had been shot in the back when the IRA opened fire in an ambush in Lurgan in January of that year. It was his second tour of duty. During a lengthy stay in hospital he fought to live, but despite the medical care and the prayers of his family, after ten weeks he succumbed to his injuries.

As a boy he had always wanted to be a soldier and was never so proud as when he joined the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He is remembered as a tall and well-built young man with a gentle and friendly nature.

Charles, from Berwick-on-Tweed, was 18 years old.