229300 Pte. John Frederick Jones British Army Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment from:Bermondsey, London Fred Jones was my uncle. He was called up in February 1940 age 23, and fought with the BEF being wounded and taken prisoner on May 20 1940. He spent the rest of the War in various POW camps including Stalag 11B and XXB.
He was very badly treated and suffered badly on the 1000km Death March. He was to suffer digestive problems for the rest off his like as a result of eating dried pearl barley, the only food that they could find. After he was picked up by the Americans, he was taken to Belsen Concentration Camp to try and identify SS troops who were disguising themselves as inmates. He was able to scrounge a camera and took number of photos of Belsen which, as he had no children of his own, were handed down to me.
Fred was the son of a docker and had no education but but was very intelligent (He qualified as a Chartered Accountant after the War) He became fluent in both German and Polish and these language skills were used in the identification of SS troops.
If anybody has any old photos with a JF Jones on, or if there is anybody still alive who members him, please contact me
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