A WINSFORD family of a young British soldier from Weaverham, killed as he stormed a German-held hill in southern Italy during the Second World War, have spoken of their ‘euphoria’ at finally being able to lay him to rest.

Lance Corporal Ronald George Blackham, of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, was killed during a fierce battle on September 25, 1943, as he fought to take Hill 270 near Salerno.

Just 22 when he died, his remains were found in February 2014 in a shallow grave near the village of Capezzano by a group of military historians.

On Thursday last week, more than 73 years on from his death, 19 members of his family, who now reside in Winsford - including younger sister Alma Williams, 80, nephew Michael Blackham, 63, and two-year-old great-grand-nephew Conan O’Grady - paid their final respects during a funeral at the Salerno War Cemetery, arranged by the MoD’s joint casualty and compassionate centre.

Speaking after the service, Michael said his uncle ‘couldn’t be in a better place’ and that it was a relief for the family to now all be over.

For Mrs Williams, L/Cpl Blackham’s only living sibling well enough to attend the funeral - the long-awaited service brought euphoria, along with mixed feelings.

She said: “All these years it’s been part of my life and now it’s being laid to rest, thank God.

“He gave his life, he gave his ultimate for it - you can’t give more than he gave.”

And Mrs Williams said her brother could rest in peace ‘at long last’.

She added: “He had come to tell us what he wanted and we have given him what he wanted. There is no other thing we could have done for him.”

The young soldier was laid to rest alongside two unknown soldiers from the same regiment and killed on the same day.

Against a backdrop of the Salerno mountains where their forebears lost their lives, six young Coldstream Guardsmen carried their fallen brothers to their final resting places, with L/Cpl Blackham’s coffin adorned with his medals.

During the battle the Guards suffered 120 casualties - including L/Cpl Blackham.

When his mother Florence was given the news of his death she collapsed with a stroke, unable to speak for six weeks.

Hauntingly, she seemingly had a premonition of her son’s fate just weeks before, dreaming of swimming with him in a river of red water, telling her family: “Something’s happened to my lad.”

His youngest brother, Stanley, later joined the Coldstream Guards, partly to find out what had become of him.

His remains were discovered three years ago by Associazione Salerno 1943, ammunition from an Enfield rifle and the Coldstream Guards cap badge indicating they were those of a British soldier.

After the Ministry of Defence tracked down his brother Douglas a DNA test confirmed his identity.

Mrs Williams was glad her brother had been laid to rest alongside his unknown comrades.

She said: “They are somebody’s son who loves them. I could not let it go without bringing wreaths for them or acknowledging them the same we did with Ron.

“They’ve been together 80-odd years, why separate them now. They are equal.”