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All around the nation, the lives of the young heroes who died in the First World War will be remembered on Britain's beaches and Ayr Beach is included in this ambitious memorial.

Fallen soldiers, medics, a munitions worker and the war poet Wilfred Owen will all feature in large-scale sand portraits on November 11.

And among those remembered will be Ayr soldier Walter who was one of the country's first black footballers.

The event to mark the centenary of the end of the war is the brainchild of film maker Danny Boyle.

The Slumdog Millionaire director is asking people to gather at 32 coastal sites in England, Wales, Scotland, North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on Armistice Day.

A large-scale portrait of a casualty will be drawn in the sand at each location and washed away as the tide comes in.

Who was Walter Tull?

Walter Tull found fame as a one of Britain's first black footballers and the first ever black officer to command white troops.

Born in Folkestone, his mother was from Kent and his father a carpenter from Barbados.

Both of Walter’s parents died before he was 10, after which he was brought up in a London orphanage.

Walter became an apprentice printer before signing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909, becoming a professional football player.

In 1914, Walter volunteered for the Footballers’ Battalion, 17th Middlesex regiment.

Two years later, he was promoted to sergeant while serving in France, before returning home after the battle of the Somme to be treated for trench fever and possible shell shock.

Having recovered, he was sent to Ayrshire for officer training.

His brother Edward, Britain’s first registered Black dentist, was brought up by adoptive parents in Glasgow and became a friend of Rangers player James Bowie.

Walter was invited to play for the club and may have participated in friendly matches.

Walter returned to the front as the British Army’s first Black officer.

After a period of fighting in Italy, Walter was posted back to France and killed in March 1918 at Arras. Although his men tried to rescue their officer after seeing him shot, his body was never found.

Scots poet Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, has written a poem, The Wound in Time, which will be read on the beaches on Sunday, November 11.

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