A 14-year-old boy killed while serving his country has been confirmed as Britain's youngest known service casualty of the Second World War.

Reginald Earnshaw, known as Reggie, was just 14 years and 152 days old when he died under enemy fire aboard the SS North Devon nearly 70 years ago.

The Merchant Navy cabin boy had lied about his age, claiming he was 15, so that he could join the war effort.

Official confirmation of Reggie's age by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission became possible after his sister, Pauline Harvey, responded to their nationwide appeal for his relatives to come forward.It is now known that Reggie was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on February 5 1927 to Dorothy Earnshaw. The family moved to the Granton area of Edinburgh in 1939 when Reggie was 12. He attended Bellevue School and left, aged 14, to join the Merchant Navy in February 1941
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He was just a baby really, kids take so long to grow up these days.