A SALISBURY student beat hundreds of applicants to become a Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF) Intern this year, welcoming visitors to some of the most iconic Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) sites in the world.

Abigail Eagles, 19, from Salisbury, beat hundreds of applicants to become a CWGF intern, going on to work with the CWGC in France, at some of the most important sites commemorating those who died in the two world wars.

Abigail, who attended Godolphin School, has been based at the largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing in the world, The Thiepval Memorial, on the battlefields of the Somme.

Here she has welcomed visitors of all ages and nationalities, providing tours of the site, answering questions and helping them to find out more information about their own family history.

The memorial commemorates 72,000 men of British and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before March 20, 1918 and have no known grave.

It is also the location of 600 Commonwealth and French graves.

Abigail also attended a reburial of an Unknown Soldier of the Great War in Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs (Somme).

Speaking about her experience, Abigail said: “My experience as an intern has been humbling and I’ve had the opportunity to do so many incredible things such as attending the D-Day Commemorations in Normandy, going to a reburial service of an Unknown Solider of the First World War and attending the opening of the new CWGC Visitor Centre.

"The internship has had such a huge impact on the way I think about the world wars and those who served.

"It has been such a privilege.”