Mural For A Lost Hero

Today's image is of a distinctive mural to honour a wartime hero forever connected to our nearby village of Nettlestead.
Richmond Anthony Barrett Blumer was an Australian pilot who plummeted to his death in the fields surrounding the village on 25th June 1944 at the tragically young age of 23.
He was born in New South Wales and, on the day his aeroplane crashed, flying had been curtailed for most of the day due to bad weather but the warrant officer took part in the last patrol of the day. After the patrol headed home to the airfield at West Malling, he landed at the advanced landing ground at Staplehurst to refuel, took off again but sadly crashed just short of his destination.
Although local people were aware of the death of the Spitfire pilot in Nettlestead Green during the Second World War, it was not until 1992 that further investigations were made by aviation archaeologists.
They were given permission by the local landowner to excavate the site of the crash where they found items including a flying helmet, fragments of a uniform, seat harness, watch and coins which were taken away for cleaning and conservation.
Investigations subsequently revealed the pilot had been Mr Blumer and permission was given to the archaeologists to erect a memorial in his honour in 1994, with the first annual service in his memory being held at the site in 2005.
When a new landlady took over the village's pub, The Hop Pole, in 2020 she admitted that she knew nothing of its connection to the pilot, or his Australian origins, and it was only when a couple of customers asked when the pictures of Mr Blumer that had been previously displayed inside the pub would be returning that she determined to find more about it.
When the new owners of the pub started to carry out some refurbishment they realised that they had a large blank outside wall and thought they should put something there which would stand out - and it was decided that an accolade to Mr Blumer would be fitting.
The mural was created over two days in Spring 2021 utilising around 60 tins of paint at more than £12 a tin, with just an old faded photograph of his subject for a reference, by the graffiti artist Jonnie Barton after a London based agency, Graffiti Kings, became aware that the pub was looking for a head-turning tribute. 
People have been known to drive past then turn around and come back to have a closer look - I must admit I have done the driving past part on probably hundreds of occasions without the turning back to have a closer look until today.
Sadly, as you can perhaps get a hint of in my extra, the pub has now closed and been boarded up following what the local police called a "large-scale disturbance", with the local parish council lamenting the closure of another local pub, which was also used as a community asset, but thankfully so far this moving memorial to a lost hero so far from home has not suffered any misfortune.