Chief Petty Officer Hilmer Olav Larsen, Royal Naval Patrol Service. He died, aged 32, on the 14th April 1946. He had been born in Norway and was the son of Johan and Cecilia Larsen of Stavanger, Norway and the husband of Wilma Larsen of 17 Headrigg, Jedburgh. He had been an engineer on a Norwegian whaler and had escaped the Germans to join the free Norwegian Army in Scotland. He was in charge of the forestry camp at Crailing, Roxburghshire before transferring to the Royal Navy in August 1940 where he served on small minesweepers until he was posted to H.M.S. ” Europa” the shore establishment at Lowestoft. This base was the H.Q. for the Royal Naval Patrol Service. He fell ill with tuberculosis and died in the Emergency Hospital, Bridge of Earn, Perthshire and is buried in Castlewood Cemetery, Jedburgh where his Headstone is inscribed ” Until The Dawn Break And The Shadows Flee Away”. ( Photo courtesy of J. D. Smith ).
