One of the soldiers who was posted to the barracks at Great Packington, American Corporal William F. Bannister of the 269th Field Artillery Battalion, recounted his wartime experiences including his time in the parish:

‘We arrived in Packington Park on April 28, 1944, at about 4:00 a.m. and were assigned to barracks which were Quonset Huts with very small bunks (double deck). We were let sleep until noontime, a rarity in the service.
From April 28 to June 15th, we remained in this camp. It was small. I think we were the only army unit there. The food was OK, maybe I was just getting used to it. Each morning we marched through the several small towns, down winding roads returning to the camp for lunch. These were very pleasant marches and the weather was great. Then in the afternoon we marched to a lake, did an hour of calisthenics until about 3:00 p.m., then just lazed around, played ball and watched British spitfires and typhoons buzz the lake. I guess they were practicing strafing. All in all it was a fairly pleasant few weeks except for the usual KP and guard duty which once again was not bad. D Day came, we were read “Ike’s” message to the troops. We all felt we should have been there also, but a month later we would be there. From what I now know how lucky we were not to go initially. Because it is just “the luck of the draw”.
During our stay here we used to get passes to Birmingham or Coventry. We could walk to Birmingham in about an hour. I went there a few times just to see the city. I only went to Coventry once. It was about a half hours bus ride. Coventry was a mess as it had been bombed relentlessly by the Germans... it wasn’t long after this, on June 16, 1944 that we left on manoeuvres in Wales.