warning: ignoring packed attribute

[M R Swami Reddy]

Hello,
With below test case, a warning message displayed by gcc - 4.3.2:
test case: test.c:
===
struct A {
    char B;
    unsigned char & C;
} __attribute__((packed));

unsigned char D;

A E = { 'F', D };
===

Command line:

 > gcc test.c -S
test.c:2: warning: ignoring packed attribute because of unpacked non-POD field 
âunsigned char& A::Câ

Could you please confirm, if the above warning is expected or its an issue with 
gcc tool?

NOTE: With gcc 3.x tools, the above warning not observed.

Thanks you very much for your kind response.

Thanks
Swami