The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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258857 Sub-Lt. Joseph Edgar Jones Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve HMS Vulture Fleet Air Arm from:16 Neville Road, Rathgar, Dublin (d.10th March 1945) Eddie in his RAF uniform Joseph Jones, Eddie, as he was known, worked in Bradford as a trainee electrician (a reserved occupation). He came over to work in Bradford because his Aunt and Uncle had a business there and lived in Ilkley. He and my mother, Jean Thornton started courting. Originally Jean and Eddie were invited along on a double date with friends but got on well and carried on seeing each other. Eddie was always very respectful of Jean and well liked by her family. Jean was 4 years younger than he was and they met when Jean was quite young (perhaps 15 or 16). Eddie was almost 23 when he died (on the 10th March 1945) and Jean 19. Their birthdays were very close on the 12th and 13th March. Eddie joined the Royal Air Force and trained in Winnepeg, Canada in 1943. In 1945 he transferred to the Fleet Air Arm and was killed on a Naval training flight in Cornwall. Eddie and Jean had planned to get engaged but, on the day they had planned to buy the ring, the shops were shut by the time they got to them. In those days Bradford's city centre shops had a half day closing on a Saturday. Somehow the couple had an misunderstanding and Eddie thought that Jean had not wanted to get engaged. He then went off to his training and somehow the couple never made up before he died. Jean found out later (from his sister) that he had spent the money for the ring getting blind drunk in Dublin before going to his posting. His family had not known why, he was not normally a drinker, or where the money had come from. The day Eddie died, 10th of March 1945, Jean mysteriously knew that it had happened and said that it felt like her world had fallen apart. She had just assumed that he would come back and they would make up. Jean recently passed away but had always kept Eddie's picture and a beautiful satin nightgown he had given her. We spoke about him in the days before she died and his picture was there by her bed. Photo sent to Jean while he was training in Canada Hilary Templar Add to this record.  Additional Information: Sub-Lieutenant (A) Joseph Jones was the son of Joseph E. and Frances V. Jones of Rathgar, Dublin. Joseph Jones joined the RAF, but later transferred to the Fleet Air Arm. He died during a torpedo training exercise at HMS Vulture was an aerial bombing and gunnery range at Delabole, Cornwall. His body was returned to his family in Dublin. He was 22 when he died and is buried in the Drumcondra (St. John the Baptist) Churchyard, Dublin, Ireland. S Flynn Reply Related Content: Fleet Air Arm HMS Vulture Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

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