Sir - The story on the nostalgia page in your Feb 12 issue consists of a quote from an unnamed soldier - presumably in a machine-gun squad - and dated February 17th 1940.

In fact Plugstreet was a small village called Ploegsteert 18 miles south of Ypres and just about part of the Ypres Salient. It spent most of the Great War in British hands, though it was over-run by German forces temporarily toward the end of the war. This diary entry could not possibly have been dated 1940, as this would have meant that the action took place in the Second World War. Self-evidently this is completely inaccurate. It may be a printing error for '1914' but it does require correcting.

The reason I have only now contacted you is because I was throwing out old newspapers and, as every man knows, if there is little more fascinating than old newspapers past their sell-by date. They always distract you.

John Curtis

Moreton in Marsh