After our four year campaign to find the burial place of Reginald Earnshaw and prove he was the youngest serving service casualty of WWII, his local parish is set to honour Reggie's memory as well as the memory of over 500 boys aged 16 and under who died in service of the Merchant Navy in WWII. The Scottish Episcopal (Anglican) church: St. David of Scotland in Edinburgh opened in 1941 conducted it's first funeral , being that of Reginald killed on the SS North Devon 6th July 1941, age 14 years 152 days. 70 year later so moved was his local parish church and parishioners, to his story and the deaths of so many other young boys lost at sea, a memorial stained glass window was commissioned and installed in the church in 2011. On the 7th May 2012 a memorial service will take place at the church to unveil the window inscribed with a picture depicting Reggie and the words:
"To the glory of God and in loving memory of ReginaldEarnshaw who died aged 14 the youngest known service casualty of the second world war. Sacred to the memory of over 500 boys of the Merchant Navy aged 16 and under who died in the service of their country during world war two."
The BBC who are at present filming a ten part documentary called "How We Won the War" contacted me by email and phone and want to use this story and build into a bigger picture depicting the role of the Merchant Navy in WWII as a small part of the series and have asked me to take part in the filming. Although the time frame to cover the Merchant Navy consists of just seven minutes in the documentary, hopefully it wall go onto highlight and educate those still unaware of the sacrifice endured by so many of the "Forgotten Fourth Service"
-- Edited by British Merchant Navy at War on Friday 6th of April 2012 08:13:56 PM
