Ralph Jones (GC)

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Private Ralph Jones (26 September 1900 – 5 August 1944) was an Australian solider who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he showed when Japanese prisoners of war staged an escape attempt on the 5th of August 1944 in Cowra, New South Wales.

Jones was born at Gorleston, Norfolk, England and educated there until the age of 14. He served in the British Army at the end of World War I and in the army of occupation on the Rhine, Germany, until invalided home in April 1920. He emigrated to Australia about 1926. On 15 January 1942, he was mobilised, and in February was posted to the prison camp at Cowra.^[1]

On 5 August 1944, the Japanese prisoners at the camp, armed with improvised knives and bats, stormed the guards with what a military court of inquiry termed "a suicidal disregard of life." Two hundred and thirty-one prisoners were killed during the ensuing fighting and 108 wounded. All of the escapees were recaptured within days. Jones was killed in the outbreak, as was Private Benjamin Gower Hardy, who was also awarded the George Cross. Private Charles Henry Shepherd was the third victim of the fighting at the camp, while Lieutenant Harry Doncaster was ambushed and killed while recapturing the escapees. The court of inquiry found that the Australian soldiers had ceased fire as soon as they had reestablished control of the camp, and that many of the dead had either killed themselves or been killed by fellow prisoners, while many of the wounded had self-inflicted injuries.^[2]

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME	Jones, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian soldier
DATE OF BIRTH	26 September 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gorleston, Norfolk, England
DATE OF DEATH	5 August 1944
PLACE OF DEATH	Cowra, New South Wales