§ Mr. Kirbyasked the Secretary of State for War if he will reconsider his decision to send on active service overseas No. 3777984, Private Charles Henry Birch, East Lancashire Regiment, whose only brother is reported as missing after action with the C.M.F., whose father was seriously injured in an air raid and whose mother and four sisters were killed in the same raid on Liverpool in September, 1940.
§ Mr. A. HendersonI fully sympathise with the wishes of my hon. Friend and I can assure him that the tragic circumstances of this case were fully taken into account in arriving at this decision. It has always been considered throughout this war that although a soldier is an only son, or the only surviving son, this does not constitute grounds for retaining him in this country. I regret that it would be impossible to make an exception in this case.