Reminiscence and memories of Mrs E J Bascombe

Reminiscence and memories of Mrs E J Bascombe

Flight Engineer Ron Jones 61 Squadron, killed in action 25 April 1944. Details of his early life and service career. Some information how he met his wife, then their brief marriage. Initially he was declared missing but on January 1945 he was presumed dead. A second section, titled 'Betty' relates the life of his wife from birth, through early employment, covering D-day and overflying aircraft. Her later remarriage to Herbert Bascombe is described.

Four typewritten sheets

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Reminiscence and Memories of the lives of Late RCH Jones and Mrs E J Bascombe

Ron

Sgt Ronald Claude Hamilton Jones 646212 – Flight Engineer of 61 Squadron sadly Killed in Action on 25th Apr 1944
Married January 1944 – Miss Elizabeth Joyce Jones (maiden name – Evans) – widowed April 1944 Remarried again in 1948 to Herbert Claudius John Bascombe but sadly widowed in 1985.

Ron was born in Canton, Cardiff, in South Wales, on 12th December 1920 to parents, Tom & Emma Jones. He had one sister who died at a young age and two half brothers and two half sisters, all older than him.

Ron joined the RAF on 1st June 1939 and whilst at 3 WING COSFORD in 1940 with 502 Squadron, he was ferrying aeroplanes to England from Canada. He was on a flight to Canada when it came down in the Atlantic Ocean, many of the airmen lost their lives. The few who survived with Ron, were rescued in a dinghy and taken to Hollywood Military Hospital.

Once recovered from his injuries, Ron was transferred from COSFORD to 51 AIRBASE then 61 SQUADRON, SKELLINGTHORPE which was the last airbase that they flew their last mission from, on 24th April 1944, to attack Munich.


How we met, my marriage to Ron and my loss

I met Ron in 1940, at his parent’s home, when visiting with my friend, Winnie who was courting Sydney, (Ron’s half-brother). Winnie married Sydney so Ron and I were often in the same company. On one occasion, whilst Ron was on leave, he invited me to accompany him to a party and this blossomed into a lovely romance. We spent every moment we could together and had a wonderful time – being together and planning our future was everything. We tried to forget the war when Ron was at home. We wrote regularly to each other when Ron was at ‘camp’ – he was very caring and had a great sense of humour and we both looked forward to his next leave.

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We had planned to wed once the war had ended but like many young people in those days, we decided to take a chance and marry, hoping that Ron would be one of the lucky heroes and return safely home to me and his parents.

We married on 26th January 1944 and lived with Ron’s parents, in Roath, Cardiff. During the war, the Government gave couples, extra food coupons towards their ‘Wedding Breakfast’ and together with coupons issued to parents and friends, we managed to enjoy a lovely meal with all our guests, on our Special Day. We felt our happiness would last forever, but life or fate can be very cruel sometimes and sadly, it was for us. We married on the second of a 4day leave, afterwards we were together for only one weekend and 10days leave. Ron was hoping to return home for my birthday on 30th April, but instead, I received a telegram on 25th April 1944 advising me that ‘RON WAS MISSING’. Only those few precious days, with so many plans and dreams unfulfilled but the few we had, are my treasured memories that will continue throughout my life.

It was January 1945 before I received the official letter from the Air Ministry, declaring that ‘RON WAS PRESUMED DEAD’. I kept in touch with the Red Cross Organisation in Cardiff who had made enquiries on my behalf, for many months but it was the Geneva Red Cross that first gave me the news, that Ron’s Lancaster had crashed in France. I notified the Air Ministry of my latest news and they confirmed my tragic loss. We all prayed that Ron had survived and was in a ‘Safe House’ in France, waiting his opportunity to return home. I couldn’t believe that Ron was never coming home to all of us. Oh how I hated Hitler!

In 1940, we experienced very heavy air-raids most nights and many street of houses were reduced to a pile of rubble. A German Landmine had been dropped, injuring many people and burying some in their garden shelters. The Wardens and Police were endeavouring to rescue survivors, whilst the Firefighters were tackling the fires. Nearby Llandaff Cathedral was badly damaged in the attacks, as were many parts of Cardiff, with many fatalities but Swansea, Liverpool, London and many other cities suffered much more.