Post by son-of-tiny on Apr 9, 2007 12:29:38 GMT
Charlie Jones
Charlie as a young man in the army
As his landing ship approached Gold Beach on 12th June 1944, on D Day +6, St Dunstaner Charlie Jones, then a Corporal in the 3rd Royal Tank regiment, remembers looking out from his tank, the first in line to disembark.
“The bow ramp dropped and I could see houses on the far side of the beach. They’d been bombed and under shellfire. The scene looked like a backcloth to a battlefield and I felt we were entering that battle.”
Charlie was one of the Desert Rats and fought at the Battle of Alamein. When the North African campaign ended, his regiment was sent back to England to join up with the 11th Armoured Division of the 2nd Army. They were issued with new Sherman tanks and after training, boarded the landing craft at Gosport on the 11th June.
“We never really had any thoughts about what we were going in to,” he recalls, “We were that busy with our training. We were kept well occupied. We were under orders.”
Charlie was acting tank commander when they landed on Gold Beach.
“We were given the order to drive off, and I remember the shore seemed about 200 yards away. My tank driver said ‘Can’t they get any closer? We’ll go under!’ One of the Navy chaps came over with a measuring pole and took the depth from the bow and said it was only a couple of feet deep. Well, my driver still was a bit cagey about it. He started off and then stopped again and he said ‘What if there’s a big shell hole underneath the water?’ The Navy chap said – ‘Close your hatch!’ Of course we had a good laugh over that.”
Once the landing was complete and the tanks had reached their rendezvous point they waited for the rest of 30 Corps. Charlie then took part in the battle of Fallais and fought in the Ardennes as well as the Battle of the Bulge.
Charlie lost many good friends in the war. Today he is one of the few remaining members of the Devon and Cornwall branch of the Royal Tank Regiment Association who took part in the D-Day landings.
Charlie survived the war with nothing worse than a perforated eardrum, but in his 80s he began to lose his sight through macular degeneration. He attended the Torbay Hospital ophthalmic department who were sorry to tell him that there was nothing more they could do for him. He was passed on to the RNIB who recommended that as an ex-Serviceman he should apply to St Dunstan’s.
Charlie joined St Dunstan’s in 2003 and has been visited by St Dunstan’s Welfare Officer Amanda Scales at the retirement flat where he now lives. Amanda was able to assess Charlie’s immediate needs and provide him with equipment that would help him maintain the independence he values.
“St Dunstan’s have been absolutely marvellous. They’ve done so much for me in the last six months. They’ve given me special equipment - magnifiers and electric light magnifiers which has helped. I can now go shopping and use the small magnifier to read the labels. One of the first things Amanda did was to give me a wristwatch that tells me the time when I push a button.”
Charlie is looking to establishing closer ties with St Dunstan’s and is confident he couldn’t be in better hands.
To mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Charlie is interested in going to Normandy with a party of St Dunstaners and has been invited by the French Government to take part in the D-Day commemorations with the British Legion.
Charlie as a young man in the army
As his landing ship approached Gold Beach on 12th June 1944, on D Day +6, St Dunstaner Charlie Jones, then a Corporal in the 3rd Royal Tank regiment, remembers looking out from his tank, the first in line to disembark.
“The bow ramp dropped and I could see houses on the far side of the beach. They’d been bombed and under shellfire. The scene looked like a backcloth to a battlefield and I felt we were entering that battle.”
Charlie was one of the Desert Rats and fought at the Battle of Alamein. When the North African campaign ended, his regiment was sent back to England to join up with the 11th Armoured Division of the 2nd Army. They were issued with new Sherman tanks and after training, boarded the landing craft at Gosport on the 11th June.
“We never really had any thoughts about what we were going in to,” he recalls, “We were that busy with our training. We were kept well occupied. We were under orders.”
Charlie was acting tank commander when they landed on Gold Beach.
“We were given the order to drive off, and I remember the shore seemed about 200 yards away. My tank driver said ‘Can’t they get any closer? We’ll go under!’ One of the Navy chaps came over with a measuring pole and took the depth from the bow and said it was only a couple of feet deep. Well, my driver still was a bit cagey about it. He started off and then stopped again and he said ‘What if there’s a big shell hole underneath the water?’ The Navy chap said – ‘Close your hatch!’ Of course we had a good laugh over that.”
Once the landing was complete and the tanks had reached their rendezvous point they waited for the rest of 30 Corps. Charlie then took part in the battle of Fallais and fought in the Ardennes as well as the Battle of the Bulge.
Charlie lost many good friends in the war. Today he is one of the few remaining members of the Devon and Cornwall branch of the Royal Tank Regiment Association who took part in the D-Day landings.
Charlie survived the war with nothing worse than a perforated eardrum, but in his 80s he began to lose his sight through macular degeneration. He attended the Torbay Hospital ophthalmic department who were sorry to tell him that there was nothing more they could do for him. He was passed on to the RNIB who recommended that as an ex-Serviceman he should apply to St Dunstan’s.
Charlie joined St Dunstan’s in 2003 and has been visited by St Dunstan’s Welfare Officer Amanda Scales at the retirement flat where he now lives. Amanda was able to assess Charlie’s immediate needs and provide him with equipment that would help him maintain the independence he values.
“St Dunstan’s have been absolutely marvellous. They’ve done so much for me in the last six months. They’ve given me special equipment - magnifiers and electric light magnifiers which has helped. I can now go shopping and use the small magnifier to read the labels. One of the first things Amanda did was to give me a wristwatch that tells me the time when I push a button.”
Charlie is looking to establishing closer ties with St Dunstan’s and is confident he couldn’t be in better hands.
To mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Charlie is interested in going to Normandy with a party of St Dunstaners and has been invited by the French Government to take part in the D-Day commemorations with the British Legion.