RAF/PW: Jones, died as POW
Name/Title
RAF/PW: Jones, died as POWEntry/Object ID
2023.1290Description
James Ellis Jones, shot on 28 March 1944, died on 2 April 1944.Context
Jones became a prisoner of war after he was shot down on 9/10 August 1943 when flying with the Brown crew,. Ernest Gordon Brown, RAAF (pilot) James Ellis Jones (flight engineer) Harold Luttrell Temple (navigator) Eric Charles Dobie (bomb aimer) Arthur Patrick Bowker (wireless operator) Allen Sunley (gunner) William Richard Pallister (gunner) The three survivors of the shooting down were Brown, Dobie and Jones. "Footprints on the Sands of Time" by Oliver Clutton-Brock (Grub Street, London, 2003, p.91) gives the details of Jones's death as being that he was caught by a German guard stealing coal briquettes for his barrack stove. The guard shot him without warning; the fatal injury is reported as being in the abdomen. Jones died five days later and this photograph from Wilf Sutton's photograph album shows his funeral. The wreath has a swastika on it. Wilf Sutton would have known Jones personally because they were both flight engineers from 35 Squadron. Sutton was shot down with his crew on 23/24 August 1943, two weeks after Jones's crew. Next to this photograph, Wilf Sutton wrote: "Taffy Jones from Pontypridd. What a waste of a life." Wilf's wife came from much the same locality in Wales. Jones's parents lived at Bedwas, Monmouthshire (about 9 miles from Pontypridd). Wilf's wife's family home was in Cardiff. After he was discharged from the RAF, Wilf (originally from Coventry) lived in Cardiff. From Wilf Sutton's collection, courtesy of Judi Nurcombe.Collection
RAF Prisoners of War, Remembrance & Memorials, 35 Squadron, Y/M: Small collections or single itemsCategory
QMP: POW items