THE story of a war hero from Latchford has been documented in a new book.
John Drinkwater was one of the recruits of the 72nd Regiment of Foot during the war with America.
Almost every single soldier of the 72nd was under the age of 20, but instead of being sent to America, they went to Gibraltar.
Drinkwater luckily survived the siege. Every day he wrote a diary, which he published as a book after the war.
It was a huge bestseller and made him famous.
He died in 1844 and was the very last survivor of the Great Siege, which was the longest in British history, lasting 1,323 days from June 1779 to February 1783.
The story is told in a new book by husband-and-wife authors Roy and Lesley Adkins, called Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History.
The book has just been published in hardback. It is also available as an e-book and as an audiobook narrated by the actor John Telfer.
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