On this day in 1943, Sidney John Jones (1901-1943) was killed in action in the Sicily Landings, in the Second World War.
Sidney, who was 42, was a company sergeant major in the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment.
He was among 160,000 Commonwealth and American troops who invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943 in the run-up to an assault on mainland Italy.
In a seven-week campaign in Sicily, the 2nd Devons fought at Vizzini, Agira and Regalbuto and liberated part of the island below Mount Etna.
Sidney was among 19 officers and men of the battalion to lose their lives in the campaign. Another 94 were wounded.
The British Army suffered almost 12,000 casualties in the battle to take Sicily, with 2,000 officers and men killed.
The Royal Navy lost more than 300 officers and men in fighting that continued until August 17, 1943.
Sidney signed up for service in the Great War as a teenager but was too young to fight.
He was buried in Catania War Cemetery in Sicily.
His grave includes the following inscription: ‘Eternal rest grant unto him, o Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him’.
Sidney is remembered on Bampton War Memorial and on a plaque within St Michael and All Angels Parish Church in Bampton.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Sidney was a son of Army veteran Henry Jones (1861-1940) who married Sarah Roberts (nee Maslin) (1874-1961) in 1912 in Bampton. Sarah was previously married to Frank Roberts (1874-1910), one of 15 children of John Roberts (1829-1919), my great-great grandfather who had 30 grandsons serving in the Great War.
Born on July 17, 1901 in Exeter, Sidney married Mabel Maria Carpenter (1903-1992) in 1924 in Exeter. Mabel born on May 29, 1903 in Exeter, was the daughter of Charles Henry Carpenter (1873-1952) and Florence Wakeham (1875-1941).
Picture below
Sidney John Jones. Picture on Find a Grave (added by D-Day Dodgers Foundation).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39309438/sidney-john-jones#source
https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/51303574
