Steve Jones
BBC News, Yorkshire
handout
Volunteers from the International Legion who served with James Wilton in Ukraine with his father
James Wilton was just 18 years old when he volunteered to fight for Ukraine months after finishing college. It was a decision he made with conviction and passion – but it was one which led to his death.
The teenager from Huddersfield was killed in a drone attack in the village of Terny on the eastern front.
“He had his whole life in front of him,” says James’ father, Graham.
“I would swap places with him tomorrow just so he could be sat at home having a pint and watching the darts.
“I’m 52, I have lived my life. He was 18, who knows what he could have done? He didn’t have a life, that’s the worst part of it.”
Steve Jones/BBC
Graham Wilton’s 18-year-old son James was killed while fighting in Ukraine
According to Graham, James had wanted to join the British Army when he left Royds Hall High School aged 16. Instead he chose to enrol on a course in animal land care at Kirklees College.
Aged 17 and nearing the end of his education, Graham says James began to discuss wanting to go to Ukraine to help with the war effort.
Neither Graham, James’ mother, or his older sisters Sarah, 21, or Sophie, 22, had wanted the youngest member of the family to go, but they were unable to convince him to change his mind.
“I sat down with him and had various conversations about why he wanted to do it, what I thought about it, and in the end he decided it was something he wanted to do,” says Graham, who lived with his only son.
“I suppose he thought it was a bit of an adventure and he was going out there to help and hopefully make a difference.”
Graham says he reluctantly supported James, adding: “If I hadn’t have done it I would have woken up one morning and he would have gone.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Could I have changed his mind? No.”
Doug Seeburg
James Wilton travelled to Ukraine to fight Russian forces after leaving college
Graham dropped James off at Manchester Airport on 28 April. From there he caught a flight to Krakow then boarded a bus to Ternopil, where he joined up with the International Legion and underwent a b
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