Robert Jephson Jones

Robert Jephson Jones
Capt R.L. Jephson Jones GC (left) and Lieut. W.M. Eastman GC are shown here after being promoted and decorated at Buckingham Palace
Birth name	Robert Llewellyn Jephson Jones
Born	7 April 1905 Oddington, Oxfordshire
Died	27 October 1985 (aged 80) Ferndown, Dorset
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Brigadier
Unit	Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	George Cross

Brigadier Robert Llewellyn Jephson Jones GC was awarded the George Cross along with Lieutenant (later Brigadier) Bill Eastman RAOC (also George Cross), for incredible courage, dealing with some 275 unexploded bombs in total on the island of Malta.^[1]

Biography

The son of a clergyman,^[2] he was born on 7 April 1905 and began his officer training at Sandhurst in 1923. He was commissioned into the Duke of Wellington's Regiment in 1925, served as Adjutant of the 6th Nigerian Regiment in 1932-4 and joined the RAOC in 1936.

He died, in Ferndown in Dorset, on 27 October 1985.^[3]

George Cross citation

Notice of their joint award appeared in the London Gazette on Christmas Eve, 1940.^[4]

Colonel RL Jephson-Jones, RAOC and Major WM Eastman, RAOC, are awarded the George Cross for a joint achievement (bomb disposal) in Malta during the enemy's concentrated air attacks on the fortress in June to November 1940. On various dates, Captain Jephson-Jones and Lieutenant Eastman, worked under dangerous and trying conditions and performed acts of considerable gallantry in dealing with a large number of variously unexploded bombs, some of which were in a very highly dangerous state and of the German delayed action type.

— London Gazette

References

1. WW2 Awards - Jephson-Jones, Robert Llewellyn
2. Smyth, Sir John (1968). The story of the George Cross. Arthur Barker Limited. p. 41. ISBN 0-213-76307-9.
3. Find A Grave
4. The London Gazette: no. 35022. p. 7207. 24 December 1940. Retrieved 24 December 2012.