Background
Jones was born at Gorleston, Norfolk, England and educated there until the age of 14.
Jones was born at Gorleston, Norfolk, England and educated there until the age of 14.
He served in the British Army at the end of World War I and in the army of occupation on the Rhine, Germany, until invalided home in April 1920. He emigrated to Australia about 1926. On 15 January 1942, Jones was mobilised, and in February was posted to the prison camp at Cowra.
Cowra breakout
On 5 August 1944, the Japanese prisoners at the camp, armed with improvised knives and bats, stormed the guard posts with what a military court of inquiry termed "a suicidal disregard of life." Two hundred and thirty-one prisoners were killed during the ensuing fighting and 108 wounded.
All of the escapees were recaptured within days. Private Charles Henry Shepherd was the third victim of the fighting at the camp, while Lieutenant Harry Doncaster was ambushed and killed while recapturing the escapees.
The court of inquiry found that the Australian soldiers had ceased fire as soon as they had reestablished control of the camp, and that many of the dead had either killed themselves or been killed by fellow prisoners, while many of the wounded had self-inflicted injuries.
