Hidden care package for WWII soldier discovered in English mansion

CBC English
14 followers
Nov 11, 2026
AI Generated·May contain errors
Video Summary
AI GeneratedA WWII care package, hidden for over 80 years in the attic of a British estate, was discovered during renovations and returned to the family of Lance Corporal Russ Hutton. The package, sent from Manitoba to Hutton while he was convalescing from a jeep accident in 1943, provides a poignant link to the soldier's past and the support systems of the era.
It started with a renovation that led to a revelation.
The discovery of this Second World War care package,
hidden for more than 80 years.
What was your reaction when you found out this package existed?
Bruce Hutton had no idea what was coming
when he opened an email this fall.
I phoned my son and told him about it,
and when I told my boy about it, I started crying.
His father, Lance Corporal Russ Hutton,
enlisted in 1941 at just 17 years old.
Joining the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian
Engineers near Surrey, England,
Hutton grew up knowing his father was injured, but not much more.
He was involved in a rollover accident with a jeep
and ended up convalescing.
That would be in late 1943.
Turns out at this British estate, there were clues long hidden.
In the Second World War, it housed injured Canadian soldiers.
During renovations,
the current owner found this linen bag hidden in an attic floor.
A care package addressed to Ross Hutton from an aunt
and uncle in Manitoba,
including cake, meat, socks, some of it still untouched,
bouillon cubes, cigarettes, tea.
Hutton figures his father hid it in the floor for safekeeping.
I've learned quite a bit about dad
and about what happened to him when he was overseas.
The way it was packaged up.
What does it tell you about the times?
Well, it certainly tells me what's priority
for the soldiers over there.
I mean, that's why a package like this was so important to them.
The owners of the home declined to be interviewed,
but using that old return address,
tracked down the Hutton family through
the local archives in Minotosa, Manitoba.
That old care package now repacked for a return trip.
So what are your plans for the package now?
We're going to have a plexiglass box built for the contents
so that they're clearly visible.
And we'll keep it at home here for now.
A part of a soldier's story long lost, now rediscovered.
Cameron McIntosh, CBC News, Winnipeg.
