Our Jacko

“This war is a nightmare that one day I shall wake from and then forget. And if I don’t wake, then you shall never know. I don’t want you ever to know.” No one seems to know where the scruffy tin hat came from – just that it is very old, from some war or other long ago. To young Michael and his family it has its uses today: as a child’s toy, a feeding bowl for the hens, a hanging basket… Then Michael discovers that it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, “Our Jacko”, who lost his life at Ypres in 1915. As the boy digs deeper, he finds the young soldier’s diary and learns more about his forgotten ancestor – husband, father, poet, actor – who died so tragically young. And it becomes clear exactly how Our Jacko should be commemorated.