Jim Atherton served in the Army as a driver and mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers unit in Europe during the Second World War and in Malaysia just afterwards.His son Clive, 62, said: “The fact that he served in the Army was an important part of his life as well as his poetry. He was always a family man and I have fond memories of our holidays and walks on the moors. He was the best dad I could have asked for.”