MILITARY MEDAL & WWI WAR MEDAL TO PTE. W. JONES, W. GDS. (K.I.A. 1916)

Military Medal Gazetted 10 Aug 1916.

William Jones was born in Llangeler, Carmarthenshire and enlisted with the Welsh Guards at Bridgend. Serving with the 1st Battalion, Jones entered France on 17 Aug 1915, was awarded the Military Medal the following year and was Killed in Action on 10 Sep 1916 and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

The following extract is from 'The Welsh Guards & The Police of South Wales during the Great War':

"William Jones was born in Llangeler near Newcastle Emlyn in 1891. The family moved to Pencastell Farm in Cymmer following the re-marriage of his widowed mother. William worked on the farm until he joined the Glamorgan Constabulary shortly before the outbreak of war at which time he was stationed at Maesteg as Constable 684. He joined the Welsh Guards as Private 1189 and awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the Western Front". The History of the Welsh Guards in the Great War states that on the 9th July 1916, Privates West and Jones were presented with their Military Medal ribbons by Major General Fielding. They were also members of a party which included L.Cpl. Trott (P.C. 324 Glamorgan) which represented the Guards Division at a parade in Paris on 14th July.

The Glamorgan Gazette 4 Aug 1914 record a letter from Pte. W.J. Thomas to a police colleague:

"Our boys the Welsh Guards went over the top and were very successful. They gained the lines of trenches and are still holding them. Several were killed and wounded. P.C. William Jones, of Maesteg, went with an officer into the German trenhes and brought back two prisoners. The officer took his name and recommended him, and he now wears the Military Medal ribbon...Sadly, he died of wounds on 10th Sep 1916 aged 25. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and on the Glamorgan Police War Memorial at Bridgend'.