British Forces

For the Fallen.

Times newspaper.

Reginald Earnshaw, cabin boy, SS North Devon, killed in action (along with five others), 6 July 1941, in the course of an attack on his ship by the Luftwaffe. Earnshaw's death certificate lists his date of birth as 5 February 1926, but official birth records suggest that his real date of birth was 5 February 1927 - he appears to have falsified the date in order to be accepted in the Merchant Navy. This would appear to have made the youngest British male to die in the service of his country in the course of the Second World War, at 14 years, 152 days. Having long been unmarked, Reginald's grave has recently been rediscovered through the efforts of a comrade from the SS Devon, and arrangements are being made for the erection of a permanent marker by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them." (Laurence Binyon). Best regards, JR.