Search begins for family members of war hero

The relatives of a Stoke-on-Trent World War Two hero are being sought ahead of Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day events in the city.

L/Sgt John Baskeyfield, known as Jack and born in Burslem, single-handedly manned two anti-tank guns and refused to leave his post during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944.

Killed in action aged 21, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage. A statue commemorates him at Festival Park in Etruria.

Andrew Felton - whose grandparents George and Anne Price were friends with the solider - wants to get in touch with the relatives of L/Sgt Baskeyfield so they may attend remembrance events later this year.

"My grandad George and nana Anne spoke often about Jack, and always with deep affection and reverence," said Mr Felton.

"I never forgot their stories, which sparked my interest in his incredible bravery at Arnhem during WW2."

He said he began to research L/Sgt Baskeyfield, who served in the South Staffordshire Regiment after signing up aged 19.

"Last September I travelled to the Netherlands to join the 80th anniversary commemorations of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem," he said.

"It was very sobering and humbling visiting the places I had read about where so many brave men fell.

"Walking from the John Frost Bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem to where Jack had last stood in Oosterbeek, commemorated by the Jack Baskeyfield Tree, was hugely poignant."

He said it would be "wonderful" to trace any relatives of the war hero, so that they could join in with the upcoming events that would honour him.

The events are expected to include an expanded exhibition in the Spitfire Gallery at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, with items L/Sgt Baskeyfield's family once gifted to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum.

There will also be an act of remembrance at the Jack Baskeyfield memorial at Festival Retail Park.

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