TWO childhood friends, who were killed within weeks of each other in Afghanistan, will be remembered forever after featuring in a new book honouring the lives and sacrifice of those who fought in the conflict.

The families of Private Tom Sephton and Marine Steven Birdsall, both from Great Sankey, have shared previously unpublished photographs and letters the young men sent home from the battlefields for the book At The Going Down Of The Sun: Love, Loss and Sacrifice in Afghanistan.

Author Graham Bound interviewed more than 100 relatives, friends and comrades of twenty fallen British soldiers and marines for the book with a dedicated chapter for each one.

Tom and Steven met at Great Sankey High School and the book says they grew up together, met girls together, joined the armed forces at the same time and sadly both died during the same tour of Afghanistan.

Steven, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, was 20-years-old when he was shot by a Taliban sniper in Sangin, in June 2010. He died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment soldier Tom, also aged 20, was killed less than a month later after he was injured saving a comrade, Private Charlie Emina, from a roadside bomb in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province.

Private Emina later gave his new-born daughter Isabella the middle name Tom in honour of his friend.

In letters home Tom was looking forward to coming home on leave and joked that he was hoping to meet up with ‘girls in tight tops and short skirts’.

His mum Angela Horn said life would never be the same after losing him.

She added: "Jenny (Steven Birdsall’s mother) and I didn’t know each other very well before.

"But after our two boys were killed, the relationship between Jenny and me became very strong, and very important.

"No-one else could understand what we had been through, and we bonded very strongly.

"We still meet up quite often, and have lunch and a glass of wine or two.

"We talk about the boys, and we watch videos and DVDs of them together. That’s our own form of counselling.

"We always contact each other on anniversaries and birthdays but we don’t even need to ask each other how we are feeling, because we know.

"We go to the cemetery together, too. The boys are buried near to each other here in Warrington. It’s a nice, peaceful place."

Despite Steven's parents Jenny and Steve's lives being ripped apart, they have been able to take some comfort from the fact his organs have saved five lives.

One man was able to enjoy his first holiday in three years after receiving Steven's heart, while two others benefitted from kidneys and another patient, who had been given hours to live, received a double lung transplant and recovered enough to be able to play football with his son.

"Football was Steven’s sport,’ said his dad, "so to know that part of him is still sometimes running around on a football pitch is wonderful.

"The transplant team still give us updates on the health of those who received Steven’s organs, and Jenny finds that very comforting."