Mike Packwood

Arthure Frederick Packwood - my dads grandad - killed in September 1918 As we approach Armistice day this coming Sunday conversations with family members sometimes turn to their involvement in war. My dad, 93 and living in Hereford, but born in Earles Barton Northamptonshire , doesn’t mention his service in the RAF much and until this week had virtually never mentioned his grandad’s service in WW1. Couldn’t stop him chattering away this week because he had   just been sent a book – The Barton Boys – which lists all of the Earls Barton men who went away to the first and second world wars and who didn’t come back. Whoever put this book together should be applauded. It’s full of fascinating facts – like the chap who was sent to Indonesia and got eaten by a crocodile – and apart from anything else shows us that even if the men are no longer here, we’ve kept enough records of that time that they most deservedly shouldn’t ever be forgotten. Back to dad. At his...