Those familiar words honour the countless men who died during wartime in the service of their country.

And because we do grow old and memories are lost with the passing of time, a Newport man has tried to ensure those local heroes are not forgotten.

Former journalist Gordon Small has compiled a book entitled 'The Newport On Tay and Wormit War Memorial,' in which he attempted to track down the history of every man listed on the memorial - 84 from the First World War and 44 from the Second.

After 18 months of research he succeeded in nearly every case, thwarted only occasionally by common names and a lack of records from the period.

Mr Small said his interest in the memorial began after he found wreaths rolling around in the wind after an Armistice ceremony and began wondering about the stories behind the names.

He started collecting information in November 2006 from newspaper archives, census records, street directories, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Scottish National War Memorial and from the diminishing number of people who knew the men or their families.

"There is a time to do these things and the time for this was rapidly passing," said Mr Small.

Aiming to discover the human stories behind the bald facts, he learned some touching details amid the clamour of war.

One Second World War soldier left his dugout to summons his mates in for a cup of tea and stood on a mine; another was too young to be sent to France, but instead went eventually to India where he contracted TB and later died at home in his garden.

A Wormit family hoped against hope their missing son would walk through the door once the war ended, but then had to accept he was not among the 30 survivors when his ship took a direct hit from the Japanese.

Mr Small's research revealed a local controversy over the inclusion of the name of Private Peter Black, who was executed in 1916 for desertion, although evidence points to shell shock rather than cowardice.

The Newport War Memorial Committee in 1922 originally refused to inscribe his name on the memorial, an action deplored by local ex-serviceman who had known Pte Black.

Two childhood friends went as far as threatening to blow up the memorial with explosives if his name was omitted — quite appropriately the crusaders' surnames were Spark and Squibb!

Mr Small dedicated the book to his father, Alec, who survived the Battle of the Somme in 1916 where 57,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or posted as missing on the first morning.

Published by the Tay Valley Family History Society, some 400 copies of the book will be printed and offered for sale at £6.50, with Mr Small not receiving any payment for his work.

"The pleasure in it for me is seeing it published," he said.