IN the run up to VE Day 80 on May 8th, we will repeat the biographies of the men from the villages in around rural Harlow who gave their lives for our freedom.

The villages of Harlow, Potter Street, Netteswell and Great Parndon saw brave servicemen fight for their country and lose their lives.

Thirty three men from Harlow lost their lives. The youngest was aged just 17 and the eldest, a Home Guardsman aged 63.

From the death of Ordinary Seaman George Victor Covell on June 9th 1940 to Gunner Frederick John Farley on August 30th, 1945, we will publish the biography of each man.

Here are the stories of the 32.

Henry Edmund Minett

Information from Harlow Council document “Remembering those who sacrificed their lives for us”

More information on Rakuyō Maru

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Rakuyō_Maru