A MEMORIAL service is being held to mark the 20th anniversary of the death Lance Bombardier Llywelyn Evans, one of the first soldiers to die in the Iraq war.

Lance Cpl Evans, of Llandudno, was among 12 soldiers to die in a helicopter accident in Kuwait in 2003.

The Llandudno branch of the Royal British Legion has organised the service of commemoration which is taking place at Llandudno War Memorial on Tuesday, March 21 at 11am.

Lance Cpl Evans was 29 when he died. He served with the Commando Regiment Royal Artillery.

The Ysgol John Bright pupil, known as Welly to his friends, died when an American Sea Knight helicopter crashed in the Kuwaiti desert on the first day of the conflict.

In 2010, Lance Cpl Evans's death was recognised with the Elizabeth Cross and Memorial Scroll. Theresa Evans, Lance Cpl Evans's mother, received the medal in his honour.

The medal was introduced in 2009 and was awarded to the families of brave Britons who died on operations or due to terrorism.

Mrs Evans, who endured further suffering when her husband Gordon died and her other son Dewi was killed in a car crash in 2008 on Christmas day, said in June 2010: “I am very proud and honoured. I am proud of both the sons I have lost, Llywelyn and Dewi. I have found strength in other parents who have lost children, not just in war but in other situations and it has been good to speak to people who understand.

"When you cry they don’t ask why as they know, losing a child is every mother’s biggest fear,” she added.

MPs have commemorated British personnel killed in the Iraq war as they marked the 20th anniversary of the conflict.

Labour’s Dan Jarvis led tributes to the 179 British lives lost during Operation Telic, the codename for UK military operations in Iraq from March 2003.

Former soldier Mr Jarvis, who served in the Parachute Regiment and was deployed twice in Iraq, also used the late-night House of Commons debate to speak of his experiences.