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He was only just out of short trousers, a fresh-faced young lad with an overwhelming desire to serve his king and country. But at 14 years of age, Reggie Earnshaw was too young to join his mates in the Merchant Navy when they all went to war in 1941. So he lied about his age to sign up as a cabin boy - and proudly went to sea aboard the SS North Devon.
Months later he was killed when the ship came under fire off the Norfolk coast, one of thousands of casualties from that year. Back home in Britain he was buried in an unmarked grave, where he slipped into virtual anonymity as a boy 'aged about 15', as the death certificate described him.
Now - nearly 70 years later - his secret has been revealed. He was officially recognised yesterday as the youngest known service casualty of the Second World War. Reggie was just 14 years and 152 days old when a German aircraft bombed the North Devon on its way to Tyneside.
Confirmation by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission makes him the youngest serving victim by 55 days. Previously Raymond Steed, who died aged 14 and 207 days, was recorded as the youngest. Yet Reggie's posthumous place in history might have been overlooked had it not been for the friend he made at sea.
Alf Tubb, a machine-gunner who served alongside him, never forgot the cabin boy with the shock of blond hair - nor the haunting agony of not being able to save him as he lay trapped and injured in the engine room. Mr Tubb tried repeatedly to drag him to safety but was beaten back by scalding steam. Decades later, despite serving on 18 ships and losing a succession of comrades, Reggie was 'always on my mind'.
He added: 'I don't think he enjoyed the sea life too much - I remember him saying he was looking forward to going back home to see his mum.'
Four years ago Mr Tubb, now 86, decided to find out where he was buried. Tireless research and an internet appeal eventually located him in the unmarked grave in Edinburgh, near where his family used to live. But where were his relatives now?
Genealogical research drew a blank at first - because Reggie had supplied the wrong date of birth when he signed up. No one could find any record of a Reginald Earnshaw born in February 1926 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. But there was one for February 1927.
That gave Mr Tubb the vital clue in plotting Reggie's short life. His mother and father moved from Yorkshire to Edinburgh when Reggie was 12. He went to Bellevue school there and left shortly after his 14th birthday, joining 'The Merch' in February 1941. Last year a nationwide appeal for information to trace relatives prompted his sister Pauline Harvey, now 77, to make contact.
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