Jack Stanley Broad was born on 6 October 1923, probably in East Malling, and one of five children of Frederick William Broad, a tube machine attendant, and his wife, Ida Thompson. Little about Jack’s early life is known; however, by 1939, the family were living at 10 Brewer Street in Maidstone. By then young Jack was employed in a brewery as a shop painter but was also an air cadet, so it is no surprise that during the war he joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

Jack served with 172 Squadron which flew coastal command sorties in Wellington Bombers along the English Channel and around the Bay of Biscay and eventually rose to the rank of sergeant. On 19 September 1943 Jack’s plane failed to return from a night training flight, and along with five other crew members, was subsequently presumed killed.

Jack’s life is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial on Panel 143, and he likely had a family connection to the parish to be included on the Platt War Memorial.