LEIGHTON & FERRIGE
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FREDDY JONES -ABLE SEAMEN-
CJX655092
ROYAL NAVY
Fredrick Jones was born in Manchester on 9/12/25. In 1955 my grandmother remarried and they stayed togeather till 2002 when my Nana passed away. He was the youngest of the 3 brothers & joined the Navy on 11/10/43 and served for over 3 yrs which ended in Feb 1947. he served on several ships during his service, but mainly on the Ajax (1944-46) in which he was trained to be a Gunner on 4" & 6" ships naval guns.
H.M.S AJAX
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HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Siege of Tobruk.
As part of Force K, Ajax bombarded Gold Beach during the D-Day invasion (The battery at Longues gave some trouble but was silenced by 6-inch shells from the ship, Grandad played his part in the Normandy landings.For his service in this action he was also awarded the Normandy Medal
GRANDAD'S OFFICAL MEDAL ENTITLEMENT
Grandad was very proud of the fact that he served his country in WW2 on the HMS Ajax. he wore his medals & veteran badges with pride and never missed a chance to march on rememberance day. He always fully payed his subscriptions to the Ajax Veterans assocation and was a full member of the British legion in his home town of Hadfield,Glossop where he was regularly found at his part of the bar, In honour of his passing the club put the Union jack on the flag pole at half mast as his coffin drove past & through the village as a sign of respect to him
FREDDY'S VETERANS BADGES & MEDALS
NORMANDY VETERAN'S MEDAL
The medals awarded to grandad were
1939-45 star, the Italy star, France & Germany star & British war medal 1939-45
Also The Normandy veterans medal
SERVICE RECORDS & VARIOUS WAR RELATED PAPERWORK
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GUNNERY HISTORY SHEET
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EMPOYMENT FORM
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to view pictures
FREDDY'S PHOTO ALBUM
(STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
Grandad had a nice collection of pictures during his time in the Navy.
This album was found at Grandad's, It's tatty, falling to bits & many of the pitures have fallen out, but some have when & where they were taken on the reverse of the picture.
The crew of the Ajax taking a break in Italy (note all the ships in the background)
Click on the arrows to view the next pictures or click on the picture for an expanded view &
extra pictures
There are photos of some of the crew, I've found some of there names from some paperwork from the photo album. Here are the names I found
Jimmy bates, Dennis Mowle, Vic Swain, Jock McGill, but putting the names to the faces in the pictures is not known
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY
Grandad sadly passed away in Dec 2010.
His wishes were that his wife's ashes(Pat)were to be placed next to him so they could spend the rest of time together. It snowed for the week before his funeral and the day of the funeral, In fact the whole UK was locked in one of the worst cold weather spells in years. The ground was so hard due to the severe weather conditions, It was questioned if the ground could even be dug in order to lay them to rest, It was cold, dark, windy and snowing, but as the funeral took it's course & the coffin was being lowered & they were laid to rest, the snow stopped and for the first time in days the clouds broke open, and the sun broke through the blackened sky
As soon as the rites were read and the coffin was put in the grave & the service neared it's end. The sky darkened over once again, and the bad weather returned. Most people present commented on this and photos of this happening were taken by people present including myself. The priest said “it was if the gates of heaven were being opened for them”.I will always keep that memory and them words close to my heart. May they rest in peace together forever Xxx
A special
"Thank you"
to Sam Jones for tending their graves
