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Edgar Jones was the son of George and Elizabeth Jones; husband of Margaret Myfanwy Jones, of Fetcham, Leatherhead, Surrey. He died on 8th June 1944, aged 34. He is buried in grave IV, C, 20 in Bolsena War Cemetery, Italy, which is situated on the eastern side of Lake Bolsena, between Rome and Siena.
Edgar Jones
Edgar Jones is 3rd from the right in the first standing row: identity of group, location and date unknownHe was listed in the Westminster Abbey Order of Service for the commemoration on 24 Oct 1946 of staff of the London Transport Board who fell in WW2.
According to the Solex course certificate shown below he was previously in C Sqn, 157 Regt RAC. The freshly-recruited 7th Battalion of the Suffolks was converted to the 142 Regiment, RAC in November 1941 and served in N Africa and Italy; in all they lost eleven officers and 76 other ranks dead. The key points in the history of 142 Regiment RAC are as follows:
1941 Nov 7th Battalion converts to 142 Regiment RAC (Churchill tanks).
1943 1st Feb 142 Regt RAC (Churchill tanks) lands at Algiers as part of 1st Army.
1943 April 142 Regiment RAC at the Battle of Medjez-el Bab, Tunisia.
1944 20th April 142 Regiment RAC lands at Naples.
1944 22nd May 142 Regiment RAC at the breach of the Adolf Hitler Line in Italy.
1944 3rd June Recce Troop 142 Regiment RAC effects the junction between 8th Army and US 5th Army at Valmontone, Italy.
1944 28th August 142 Regiment RAC at the breaching of the Gothic Line near Rimini.
1945 22nd Jan 142 Regiment RAC (former 7th Battalion) disbands in northern Italy.
source: http://www.suffolkregiment.org/Calendar.htmlFurther research is needed into the likely circumstances of the death of Tpr Jones.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission "On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but the advance was checked for some months at the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line. The line eventually fell in May 1944 and as the Germans fell back, Rome was taken by the Allies on 3 June. The Germans made their first stand after being driven north of Rome at Bolsena and to the east of Lake Bolsena, there was a tank battle in June 1944 between the 6th South African Armoured Division and the Hermann Goering Panzer Division.
The site for the cemetery was chosen in November 1944, and graves were brought in from the battlefields between Bolsena and Orvieto. Almost one-third of those buried at Bolsena were South Africans. In 1947, 42 graves were brought into the cemetery (into Plot 4 Rows G and H) from the Island of Elba. The cemetery is on the actual site of the first camp occupied by General Alexander's advanced headquarters after the liberation of Rome and it was here that King George VI visited General Alexander at the end of July 1944."
On 30 March 2010 Janice Steele of the Fetcham U3A wrote: "I was able to make contact with Edgar Jones' niece who now lives in Manchester. She has sent me all his records which I have scanned and provided for the website. When I have finished with them I am sending them to the Suffolk Regiment for them to keep. In the Westminster Abbey Order of Service his name is listed under Dept Chief Mechanical Engineers Army."
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Battalions of the Suffolk Regiment
http://books.national-army-museum.ac.uk/suffolk-regiment-1928-1946-pr-25711.html
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page created 12 Apr 2010
