Roderick Barron took a trip with his 87-year-old father and a small group of other veterans from the 5th Battalion of the KOSB to revisit places along the Dutch-German border where they were in action in the winter of 1944-45.

After visiting many battle sites and war cemeteries, he came back deeply moved and is now researching a book on the battalion and its men during the war.

He has discovered that one of the battalion, Pte John Ronald 'Ronnie' England, was from the Batley area.

His early enquiries have found Private England died in action on March 3 1945 at Weeze, Germany, aged 26, and was buried in Milsbeek War Cemetery, Netherlands.

An obituary notice for Pte England, which appeared in the News on March 24, 1945, shows he was married to Constance England (nee Hirst), of 20 Brookroyd Lane, and had three young sons, Geoffrey, born in 1939, Ronald, born in 1941, and Alan, born in 1943.

His parents were Mr and Mrs E England, of Cleckheaton.

He also had three brothers, twins Robert and Herman, born in 1920, and Arthur, who were all on active service, Robert and Arthur in the RAF, Herman in the Army.

Before being called up in 1940, Pte England worked for Thomas Burnley and Sons Limited, Gomersal, and was a keen footballer.

Mr Barron said all three of Ronnie's brothers appear in the 'Forget-me-not' fund book on Cleckheaton, but he does not. Stranger still, his name is not listed on either of the main Cleckheaton or Batley war memorials.

Pte England's mother's maiden name was Hollingworth and the England family appear to have lived in the Spen Valley and Dewsbury area at least from the late 1910s to the early 1920s.

Mr Barron, who lives in Kent but has traced the ancestry of the Barron family back to the Batley and Morley area, hopes readers will be able to help him solve the mystery.

He said: "I feel we owe an enormous debt of honour to the many men who, like Pte England, never came home from the war.

"And, although they may be gone, I want to ensure that they are not forgotten and that their stories can still be told.

"What is more, I feel an equally deep commitment to the diminishing band of veterans, now in their twilight years, who keep alive the flickering flame of memory of these long-departed comrades, times and experiences. I feel that their collective memory needs to be sustained, renewed and re-expressed for the next generation."

To help solve the mystery contact the newsroom on 01924 472121, email Mr Barron direct on barronrm@hotmail. com or write to him at RM Barron, PO Box 67, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 3WW.