Jack Banks was from
Darwen, in the north of England. He was only sixteen
when he died in Normandy in 1944. Sixty years
on, Jean his sister, has this to say.
‘Things
were never the same after Jack was killed.
I don’t think my mother and father
ever got over it. I remember Mum collapsed.
She never claimed his medals. It was too
upsetting – she wanted him back, not
those. She was so sure that she could bring
Jack’s body home that she had a black
vase engraved for his grave. It stood on
her sideboard until her death in 1980 and
every week she would fill it with fresh
flowers in his memory. She asked that all
his letters and photographs were buried
with her when she died and this we did.
It is nice to know that
Jack will be remembered in both schools
he attended as the children have been researching
all about him. Remembering Jack now, we
feel very proud but very sad.’
