Dead soldiers name is misspelt on Elizabeth Cross

Another day and another MOD screw up.he mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was horrified to find that his name was spelt wrong on the Elizabeth Cross that she received.

An accompanying scroll signed by the Queen had the same error.

Lieutenant Richard Shearer, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, died in a roadside bomb attack four years ago, aged 26. Maureen Shearer opened the package on Friday to find that the medal and the document featured a non-existent middle initial “A”.

Mrs Shearer, a retired teacher, said: “I just couldn’t believe it. The least we deserve is to have his name spelt correctly.”

It was not the first time that the family had had to deal with a distressing error — the young soldier’s coffin was inscribed with the wrong date of birth when it was flown back from Iraq.

The incident follows the criticism at Gordon Brown for misspelling the name of Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes in a handwritten letter to his mother.

Mrs Shearer, a mother-of-two, said: “I’m extremely upset. Losing a son is devastating and I still think of Richard every single day. I opened the package on Friday and just couldn’t believe it when I saw they had got his name wrong.

“I can only think that it was a clerical error but when it comes to something as important as this then the details must be checked, double-checked and made 100 per cent accurate.

“It may just be a name and number to somebody at the Ministry of Defence but my son was a real person who is still missed by all his family and friends to this day. The least we deserve is to have his name spelt correctly.”

It emerged last week that civil servants at the MoD were sharing a £47 million bonus pot, while the Government were cutting the budget for frontline soldiers.

No doubt Bob "the knob" Ainsworth, our tash wearing Defence Sec. will explain all and attempt to deflect the blame off of one Bob Ainsworth.


Not a peep from PM McSnotty on this as yet, no doubt he will issue some meaningless platitudes; I just hope he spells them correctly this time.


Although I must point out that the MOD have received an award.

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