Second World War Medal Group of 4 - Company Sergeant Major Charles Frederick Jones, East Yorkshire Regiment
1939-45 Star - unnamed as issued
Africa Star - unnamed as issued
British War Medal - unnamed as issued
British Army Long Service & Good Conduct Medal - 4336724 W.O.CL.2. C. F. JONES. E. YORKS.
Charles Frederick Jones was born on 5 February 1905 in Birkenhead, Cheshire. He enlisted in the East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York’s Own) on 20 October 1920, beginning a long and distinguished Regular Army career that spanned over two decades.
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Jones was an experienced senior NCO, having risen to the rank of Company Sergeant Major in the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment — part of the Territorial Army but heavily reinforced by Regulars like him during wartime expansion. The 5th Battalion formed part of the 150th Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, a formation that saw extensive service in France in 1940 and later in the North African campaign.
In early 1942, the battalion was serving in the Western Desert, engaged in the bitter fighting that followed Rommel’s offensive towards Tobruk and Gazala. During these operations, the East Yorkshires were heavily involved in defensive actions around Sid el Enish, where Company Sergeant Major Jones was captured on 1 July 1942, during the chaotic retreat following the fall of Tobruk. His War Office casualty report first listed him as missing (June 1942), later confirmed as Prisoner of War in October 1942.
Initially held in Italy, Jones was interned at Military Hospital 202, Lucca, under postal mark 3200, from August 1942 to September 1943. Following the Italian Armistice, he was transferred north by the Germans and held successively at Stalag IVB Mühlberg, Stalag XXA Thorn (Poland), and finally Stalag 357 Fallingbostel, Lower Saxony — one of the main transit and holding camps for senior NCOs. His MI9 liberation questionnaire, signed 5 March 1945, confirms that he was not wounded when captured, made no escape attempts, and received adequate medical treatment while in captivity. His address on repatriation was given as 2 Railway View, Clevedon, Somerset.
After nearly three years as a prisoner of war in both Italy and Germany, Jones was finally liberated in April 1945, being officially recorded as “no longer a Prisoner of War” on the War Office Casualty List of 7 June 1945.
In recognition of his long and exemplary military service, he was later awarded the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, authorised under Army Order 133 of 1946, by which time he held the rank of Warrant Officer Class II.
The 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, to which Jones belonged, had a proud record during the North African campaign. Alongside the 4th Battalion, it fought stubbornly against the German Afrika Korps, forming part of the 50th Division’s hard-fighting infantry that defended the Gazala Line, engaged at Mersa Matruh, and suffered heavy losses before reconstituting in 1943 for the invasion of Sicily.
Company Sergeant Major Charles Frederick Jones’s story reflects the courage and endurance of the professional British soldier — a Regular who served through the interwar years, fought across the deserts of North Africa, endured imprisonment in Italy and Germany, and returned home with an unblemished record of loyalty and leadership. His long service medal and wartime experiences together represent nearly 25 years of continuous devotion to duty in the East Yorkshire Regiment.
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