Sub-Lt. Joseph Edgar Jones
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve HMS Vulture Fleet Air Arm
from:16 Neville Road, Rathgar, Dublin
(d.10th March 1945)
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.
