A NAME of a young soldier who died fighting in the Second World War has been misspelled on a local war memorial, according to the family.

James Johnson Sharrock, of Hart Common in Westhoughton, was killed in action at the age of 21 at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. However, Mr Sharrock's descendants say that his name is misspelled on both the Westhoughton war memorial stone and the Westhoughton Town Council memorial board — reading "Sharrocks" instead of Sharrock.

Parnel Seabrook, James "Jim" Sharrock's second cousin, says that she has been asking the council to change the name since November but has had no success.

Ms Seabrook, who lives in Lincolnshire, said: "I find it disgusting that the people he fought and died to give freedom to can’t seem to be bothered to correct his name and have him remembered properly on the memorial in his home town.

"I think that is the least they owe him. He went off and died to do the right thing. He deserves to have his name spelled correctly."

Ms Seabrook, 64, added: "I was hoping that since it is just an extra "s" on the end of his name, that it would be easily rectified.

"It's not a difficult change.

"I had hoped that after it being on there incorrectly for seventy odd years that they would be able to order works to be carried out quickly but that has not proved to be the case."

Bolton Council has now responded to the concerns, apologising for delay and pledging to sort the mistake.

A council spokesperson said: “We honour and remember our fallen, and the maintenance of war memorials in our ownership is incredibly important.

“If the family want us to change the spelling, we will do so.

“We would like to apologise for the delay and will look to resolve the matter as soon as possible.”

Mr Sharrock was a glider pilot during the war, though his family only discovered his role after starting to research for a family tree.

Ms Seabrook said: "It is amazing how it effects your family. He's my mother's cousin, I was born 11 years after he died. I never knew him but you feel it for the people that were left behind.

"I was really close to my grandfather, James' uncle. He never talked about losing his nephew, that generation didn't talk about it.

"I started out researching for a family tree and I didn't know any of this, then Jim took over."

Mr Sharrock's name is also listed on the Groesbeek memorial in Arnhem.