STORIES and records relating to Britain's war dead are to be preserved on computer.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which holds the documentation, has awarded a £1.6m contract to the national Stationery Office to fund the new archive.

It will form a record of the 1.7 million men and women who died in the armed services of Commonwealth countries over more than 80 years.

The electronic archive, which will allow frail original documents to be better protected by reducing their use, could take up to five years to complete.

Among the names will be personal records of famous writers, including Great War poets Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke.

The archive will also recount tales of battlefield exploits: among the most poignant stories will be that of Private Jack Banks.

The 16-year-old, from the Durham Light Infantry, is believed to have been one of the youngest soldiers to die in battle, certainly in the Second World War.

Having defied the wishes of his parents, in Darwen, Lancashire, and lied about his age to enlist, he joined the DLI's 8th Battalion and was killed in Normandy, during the landings of June 1944, when he was hit by mortar fire.

The original verification document, in the War Graves Commission records was written by his parents, Jack and Fanny.

Steve Shannon, of the DLI Museum, in Durham, said it remained a mystery how Pte Banks was able to join up at so young an age.

He said: "There were lots of examples of under-age people joining up in the First World War, but things were much better organised by the Second World War and it would not have been as easy to slip the net."

Members of the DLI Association recently travelled to Darwen to unveil a plaque at Pte Banks' old school.