The Funeral of Taffy Jones

James Ellis Jones, known to his friends as Taffy because of his Welsh origins, died on 2 April 1944 after being shot by a German guard.

He had become a prisoner of war after being shot down on 9/10 August 1943 when flying with the Brown crew from 35 Squadron:

  • Ernest Gordon Brown, RAAF (pilot) – survived the shooting down
  • James Ellis Jones (flight engineer) – survived the shooting down
  • Harold Luttrell Temple (navigator) – killed
  • Eric Charles Dobie (bomb aimer) – survived the shooting down
  • Arthur Patrick Bowker (wireless operator) – killed
  • Allen Sunley (gunner) – killed
  • William Richard Pallister (gunner) – killed

The three survivors, Brown, Dobie and Jones, became prisoners of war.

“Footprints on the Sands of Time”, by Oliver Clutton-Brock, 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, something impossible to survive given the limitations of medical care at that period. [1]

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, and both had Welsh connections. [2]

Wilf Sutton was shot down with his crew on 23/24 August 1943, two weeks after Jones’s crew.

Next to this photograph in the album, Wilf Sutton wrote:

“Taffy Jones from Pontypridd. What a waste of a life.”

Original 1944 photograph from Wilf Sutton’s collection. It is not known why Wilf Sutton had this photograph, which was probably sent to Jones’s relatives to show that he had been buried with all due care and respect. RAF Pathfinders Archive, donated by Judi Nurcombe.

[1] “Footprints on the Sands of Time”, by Oliver Clutton-Brock, (Grub Street, London, 2003) p.91).

[2} Taffy Jones’s parents lived at Bedwas, Monmouthshire, about 30 miles from Cardiff. Wilf Sutton’s wife’s family home was in Cardiff. After he was discharged from the RAF, Wilf (originally from Coventry) lived in Cardiff.