Remembering a hero and a local
Why a Falklands War Victoria Cross recipient is recalled fondly in Kingswear. GUY HENDERSON tells the tale
IT IS EASY to miss the blue plaque on the wall by the Lower Ferry slipway in Kingswear. Thousands of drivers, riders and pedestrians pass it every year as they get on and off the little floating pontoon that takes them to and fro across the Dart. But it marks the waterside community’s connection with a famous war hero who fell on a bleak hillside thousands of miles away, and was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for an extraordinary act of bravery.
Herbert Jones and his brothers were teenage tearaways growing up in Kingswear in the 1950s, when the family owned The Grange, a sevenbedroom house in the valley on the way out towards Froward Point. His American-born father served with the Home Guard in Dartmouth during the Second World War. As the only member of the platoon with a car, he was their designated driver.
Herbert, who always made it clear he preferred to be known as ‘H’, was the oldest of three brothers, and went to the private Tower House School in Dartmouth before going to Eton in 1953.
His father was a member of the Royal Dart Yacht Club in Kingswear, and his sons sailed dinghies with varying degrees of success. They played cowboys and Indians in the woods around the house and joined other local children to sing carols at Christmas.
Speaking at the unveiling of the blue plaque on Remembrance Day in 2002, brother Tim said: “As growing boys, we were a real trial to our parents and the local bobby, PC Bailey. I remember driving from the slipway to The Grange in record time, and coming home late from a party in Dartmouth, ‘borrowing’ a boat to get home long after the ferries had
We’re not here to remember that bleak hillside in the Falklands. We’re here to remember the man, how much he loved Kingswear, and how much we enjoyed growing up here H JONES’ BROTHER TIM
stopped running. Life was always exciting when H was around.”
‘H’ joined the army on leaving Eton. After passing out from Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment. He developed a love of fast cars, and raced Lotus Elans with some success.
Kingswear historian Michael Stevens recalled H’s love for a 1930s Bentley inherited from his father. He drove it around the lanes with gusto, until he collided with the Hillhead to Kingswear bus one day and the old Bentley came off worst.
By 1972, H Jones was a major, serving in Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles. He was a friend of Captain Robert Nairac, and led the search operation after Capt Nairac was abducted by the Provisional IRA. It was later confirmed the captain had been shot and killed.
H Jones was awarded a MBE for his service in Northern Ireland, and would later be honoured with an OBE. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment.
He was on holiday in France when he heard the news of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in April, 1982, having just returned from training in Kenya. His battalion was part of the first major infantry formation to be sent to the South Atlantic.
During the Battle of Goose Green at the end of May, around 500 men of 2 Para under his command attacked the settlements of Darwin and Goose Green, both held by the Argentines.
The battle lasted through the night and into the following day, although the BBC had already announced the British victory while it was still raging. Seventeen British and 47 Argentine soldiers were killed, and almost 1,000 cold and dispirited Argentine troops were taken prisoner.
Among those killed during the long night was H Jones, shot while leading a charge against entrenched Argentine machine-gun positions. The Argentine unit surrendered shortly afterwards and the course of the battle – and perhaps of the whole conflict – was changed.
His Victoria Cross citation details his exceptional bravery. It reads: “During the attack against an enemy who was well dug in, the battalion was held up by a particularly well-prepared and resilient enemy position of at least 11 trenches on an important ridge.
“A number of casualties were received. Colonel Jones took forward his reconnaissance party despite persistent, heavy and accurate fire. From here he encouraged the direction of his battalion mortar fire, in an effort to neutralise the enemy positions. However, these continued to pour effective fire on to the battalion advance, which, by now held up for over an hour and under increasingly heavy artillery fire, was in danger of faltering. In his effort to gain a good viewpoint, Colonel Jones was now at the very front of his battalion.
“It was clear to him that desperate measures were needed, and that unless these measures were taken promptly the battalion would sustain increasing casualties and the attack perhaps even fail. It was time for personal leadership and action.
“Colonel Jones immediately seized a sub-machine gun and, with total disregard for his own safety, charged the nearest enemy position. This action exposed him to fire from a number of trenches. As he charged up a short slope at the enemy position he was seen to fall and roll backward downhill.
“He immediately picked himself up, and again charged the enemy trench, firing his sub-machine gun and seemingly oblivious to the intense fire directed at him. He was hit by fire from another trench which he outflanked, and fell dying only a few feet from the enemy he had assaulted. A short time later a company of the battalion attacked the enemy, who quickly surrendered. The display of courage by Colonel Jones had completely undermined their will to fight further.
“The achievements of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment at Darwin and Goose Green set the tone for the subsequent land victory on the Falklands. This was an action of the utmost gallantry by a commanding officer whose dashing leadership and courage throughout the battle were an inspiration to all about him.”
The body of H Jones was buried in a battlefield grave at Ajax Bay before being exhumed and re-buried in the Blue Beach War Cemetery in San Carlos, the settlement which formed the main army bridgehead during the conflict. There is a wooden plaque and a copy of the VC citation in Kingswear Parish Church.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said of him: “His life was lost, but his death was the turning point in the battle.” H’s widow, Sara, unveiled the blue plaque in 2002 and brother Tim, who himself served as a commander in the Royal Navy, told family, friends, villagers and dignitaries that it was not a time to remember his brother’s battlefield exploits. He went on: “We’re not here to remember that bleak hillside in the Falklands. We’re here to remember the man, how much he loved Kingswear, and how much we enjoyed growing up here after our parents bought The Grange when he was two years old.”
H Jones had always told family and friends he intended to return home and live at The Grange when he retired from military service. It was an ambition he was unable to fulfil, but the plaque on the ferry slipway gives the village a permanent reminder of one of its treasured sons.