REMEMBRANCE Sunday was the occasion for recalling names and memories of countless war dead. Early in the Second World War, Sgt John Harwood was one of a small advance party of soldiers of the Royal Engineers, first dispatched to the island of Flat Holm,

REMEMBRANCE Sunday was the occasion for recalling names and memories of countless war dead. Early in the Second World War, Sgt John Harwood was one of a small advance party of soldiers of the Royal Engineers, first dispatched to the island of Flat Holm, and from there to Steep Holm, to establish an initial camp for the much larger numbers of personnel that would soon follow. Only a week later, he and two colleagues, Cpl G Bull, and Sapper W Moyse were drowned. Returning from Steep Holm to the sister island on board the naval tender New Roseland on July 15, 1941, they needed to transfer to a small dinghy to go ashore. The dinghy capsized in rough seas and, weighed down with heavy equipment, the three soldiers became the two islands' first wartime casualties. A military headstone dedicated to Sgt Harwood is in the war section of Weston Cemetery, but it does not tell the full story of the tragedy.STAN RENDELL - Via email