STANLEY Mervyn John Cameron

B.A. (Queen’s University, Belfast)

Wing Commander Mervyn J.C. Stanley (School House 1918 – 1927) had been posted missing in May 1942. His elder brother Major V.E.M.C. Stanley was already a Prisoner of War by this date. Mervyn Stanley had often sung solos at School Concerts and he was something of a poet. His widow’s tribute to him was this brave and beautiful poem:
PILOT
(For M.J.C.S., Missing May 1942)
No, not for you the darkness of a grave,
You are not dead, you live in everything:
The dawn’s pale fire, the shining seabird’s wing,
Spray blowing from the curled crest of a wave,
The heart-lift of an eager swinging stave
That leads my feet to dance, my soul to sing;
Always for you a memory rich and brave,
A star night-marching through high heaven’s nave;
Of earth a knight, but of the skies a king,
In all things young and valiant you fly,
Still gay and splendid, riding through the sky.
J.S.N.S.-June 1942

Source for additional information: Kings School, Worcester 1541 – 1971 by Michael Craze

Mervyn Stanley has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on the Ottawa Memorial.