John Walter Leonard Broad was born in Platt on 30 October 1906 and baptised in the parish church on 16 December. He was the eldest of seven children of a farm labourer named John Leonard Broad and his wife, Louisa Ellen (née Fisher). In 1911, the family lived at Sotts Hole near Crouch, with John (or Jack as he was sometimes known) starting at Platt School on 11 March 1912 and then Borough Green Council School on 4 October 1915.

After leaving school in 1920, John worked as a gardener. On 5 October 1935, he married a local girl from Mill Cottages named Doris Isobel Gibson in Platt Church, with the reception held in the old schoolroom. They subsequently had two daughters, born in 1936 and 1937.

During the Second World War, John served with the Corps of Military Police (No. 6339843), reaching the rank of lance corporal when he died at Sevenoaks and Holmesdale Hospital in Sevenoaks on 10 March 1943. He had been suffering from acute nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) and was usually resident at 7 Pine View Cottages in Platt.

John was buried in the churchyard three days later and is one of four Commonwealth War Graves in Platt.