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Salute the Soldier Poster
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Pte. John ‘Jack’ Askham
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The angular honour of being chosen by the famous cartoonist and creator of “Old Bill,” Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, for a 12-ft poster for the “Salute the Soldier” Savings Campaign falls to a young Raunds Home Guardsman, Pte. John (‘Jack’) Askham.
Capt. Bairnsfather is with the U.S. Army Air Force and recently visited this country.
The poster is to be exhibited all over the country during the “Salute the Soldier” Weeks, and Pte. Askham was chosen at a special parade of the Raunds “A” Company at the 8th Battalion Commander’s Paddock on Sunday morning. Capt. Bairnsfather, with the C.O. (Col. V. H. Sykes), inspected the men, walking along the ranks twice, and picked out Pte. Askham, who was asked into the house where a sketch of him was made. None of the officers, other than the C.O. knew of the purpose of the parade in the paddock, and so it was “a completed surprise” to all.
Pte. Askham’s sister, with whom he lives in Park-avenue, said that when he went home from the parade he joked about his being chosen, and for some time she and a brother did not believe him. “Jack” who is 18 years old, is the elder son of the later Mr. and Mrs. E Askham, of Park-avenue, Raunds, being employed as a tractor driver on the Co-op farms. He joined the Home Guard about three months ago and is a very keen member. A strapping “six footer” he was educated at Raunds Council School, and was a very keen footballer, playing with the School’s first eleven when they won the Rushden and District Shield in 1938. He was also a member of the 1st Raunds Boy Scouts.
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