JONES, Wilfred Raymond
| Service Number: | 2698 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 May 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 46th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia, 10 March 1896 |
| Home Town: | Berrigan, Berrigan, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Berrigan Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Messines, Belgium, France, 10 June 1917, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord Plot III, Row C, Grave No. 76, Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension (Nord), Lille, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 5 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2698, 46th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2698, 46th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2698, 46th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Melbourne |
Help us honour Wilfred Raymond Jones's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Wilfred Jones ('Fred') was born in 1896 in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia. He was the tenth child of John and Agnes Jones.
Wilfred became a farmer, living with his parents on a wheat-growing property called 'Erindale' at Berrigan, NSW. Australia was calling for volunteers to fight in World War I; so Wilfred enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 May 1916 at the age of 20.
He became a Lance Corporal, number 2698 in the 46th Battalion, B company.
Wilfred was 'attached for duty' to the 45th Battalion on 6 June 1917. Then he suffered a gun shot wound to the left thigh during the attack on Messines at about 10 am on 7 June 1917.
A report in the Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files said Wilfred was admitted to an aid station on 9 June in a 'very low condition'. Despite treatment by the surgeons he gradually became unconscious and died in the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station in Bailleul on 10 June 1917 aged 21 years.
He was buried in the Bailleul Military Cemetery on 11 June with Chaplain the Reverend Henry Vine conducting the service at the graveside.
Wilfred's father was forwarded his personal effects that included a letter and photo, a pipe, cigarette case, fountain pen and wrist watch.
Wilfred's mother wrote a letter to AIF Base Records at Melbourne, Victoria, on 19 October 1917 asking for further details about her son's death. She wrote:
'... The papers(1) say the enemy bombed the dressing station and a doctor was killed and the nurses were trying to protect their patients by placing basins on their heads.
... my son, Lance Corporal Wilfred R Jones, reported died of wounds on the 10th June, left the firing line on the 8th June with a bullet in his hip and his mates state that they last saw him at the dressing station in good spirits and they said his wound was not at all serious but I received a letter from Sister Helen Tait in France saying "He was brought here (First Aus. Cas. Clearing Station) with such wounds and so collapsed from loss of blood that he did not live long, dying at 3.30 on the 10th June."
As it is inconceivable that he could have returned to the firing line with a bullet in his hip, I fear he was fatally injured at the dressing station....
If you can tell me anything which will help to set my mind at rest on this matter, you will confer a great favour on his sorrowing mother.
Agnes Jones'
Click images to start slideshow.