Public Contributions:

Submitted by: John Coote

Relationship to casualty: Grandson of John Cecil Coote MM who was fightly alongside Jones on 24 August 1918.

I am the grandson of John Cecil Coote MM who was fightly alongside Jones on 24 August 1918. They were clearing trenches & Coote was wounded and Jones killed. The following is and extract from NZM...G History (Chapter XII — The Advance to Bapaume — Period 20th August, 1918, to 15th September, 1918) :- "The 1st Brigade attacked at 4.15 a.m. with a section of guns from the Wellington Company attached to the two assaulting Battalions. The remaining two sections were quickly moved forward to positions from which to cover the attack with direct overhead fire. The sections with the Battalions were frequently in action during the day, the gunners working their guns very boldly. At one stage of the advance Lieut. J. C. Coote's section was held up by an enemy strong post. Coote, with Sergt. R. S. Jones and Private E. Smith, under cover of the section's guns, rushed the point and bombed it. In a few minutes the garrison surrendered, and thirty-five prisoners and seven machine guns were captured. Unfortunately Coote was wounded and Sergt. Jones was killed. This little operation was one of the neatest and most effective of its kind performed by our machine gunners in France." The Jones' home still stands in Petone. Read More

Submitted by: John Coote

Relationship to casualty: Grandson of Lt John Cecil Coote MM NZMGC who was fighting alongside Jones when he was killed.

As per previous . Have now located a photo of sorts. Papers Past — Free Lance — 24 October 1918 — SERGEANT RONALD SEAFORTH JONES 7th Reinforcements), Killed in Action. This has a photo attached.... Read More

Submitted by: John McDonald Coote

Relationship to casualty: Jones was killed while fighting alongside my Grandfather Lt John Cecil Coote on 24 August 1918.

Further information concerning Sgt Ronald Seaforth Jones WW1 5/599. Killed in action 24 August 1918. Jones was wounded twice while fighting with the NZ Machine Gunners. He married Ethel Grey on 31 Ma...rch 1917 at Grantham which was the training location for Machine Gunners. A son Stanley Charles Jones was born on 16 January 1918 at Grantham. Further details about Jones are available on his service record held in Wellington. He was a brave man and a good soldier. He came from Petone New Zealand. The son Pilot Officer Stanley Charles Jones 413085 served with the RNZAF and died 11 February 1942 aged 24 years while on active service in England. He is buried in the Gloucester Old Cemetery United Kingdom. There is no further information readily available. Read More

Submitted by: Stephen Jones

Relationship to casualty: Nephew

Sergeant Ronald Jones 5/599, Machine Gun Corps War Exploits 1915 – 1918. Born 11 November 1892, Ronald Jones was the first of a family of eight. His early years were in Wellington, the family movin...g to Petone when Ronald was about 10 years old. He ran a business repairing and servicing engines for motorcycles in Jackson Street but wound it up before enlisting in July 1915. He spent 4 months basic training in New Zealand, 8 months training at the NZ training camp at Zeitoun, Egypt. He arrived at Sling Camp in August 1916 and posted to the Machine Gun Corp. Then 9 months at Belton Park, Grantham, with the New Zealand Machine Gun Corp. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in October 1916. It was in Grantham that he met the love of his life Ethel Gray (Peggy). They were married on 31 March 1917. Their son Stanley Charles was born 16 Jan 1918. Ronald wrote long detailed letters home to his family, but only two have survived, these describe the events at the times he was wounded. On 21 May 1917 he was part of No. 5 Coy, NZMGC that left for France. They marched from Calais to the New Zealand Machine Gun base at Camiers. They were then posted to field in Flanders. Posted to strength on 2 June, in preparation for Battle of Messines. Artillery and especially machine gun barrage gave critical support to the infantry. He transferred to No. 3 Coy, and they were kept busy holding the area until the end of the month. Letter No. 15, dated 11 August 1917 was written at No.2 General Hospital, Walton on Thames, England. He had a shrapnel wound in his lower left arm. He says there is no pain at all, just happy to be away from the continuous roar of banging guns and exploding shells. Here Ronald describes his part in the attack on La Basseville, which became part of the 3rd Battle of Ypres. On 29 July he went to into the line at the Sugar Refinery to the south of Warneton in charge of two guns and teams. They set up at 2 pm, and waited under cover. At 3.50 am exactly all the machine guns in the sector opened fire, firing at 2 min intervals at a rate of 60 shots per minute. An S.O.S. after 40 mins meant increasing to 250 shots per min, “and that meant working like hell to keep the belts full to feed the gun”. Fire was almost continuous until the morning of 2 August with only short spells to cool and clean the gun. They packed up and moved to a new position about 3 miles away. They came under heavy shell fire in Ploegsteert Wood and were forced to take shelter for several hours, suffering several casualties. Shelling eased about 4pm so “we grabbed our guns and hopped it”. 2.30pm they arrived at Prowse Point and had to set up the guns under almost continuous shell fire until he was hit. “Shells coming over. 9.2 inch H.E. 6 inch ditto. 4.2 inch H.E. & Shrapnel. 3 or 4 kinds of gas shell. Tear gas, chlorine gas, colored gas & mustard oil gas & a few others, & a sprinkling of machine gun bullets. The gas makes tears pour from your eyes & they smart like glory & it catches and burns our lungs & throat. Some of it raises large blisters like burns, & blinds our eyes for days. During the last stunt they gave us gumboots up to our hips & the mud & water came over the top. Many a man was wounded & sank under the mud & suffocated. It was practically impossible to keep dry; & all the time we had to keep firing & obtain ammunition from the reserves, which meant continual journeys through mud & under heavy shell fire. I had charge of 2 machine guns, the team of each consists of 6 men & myself & 1 corporal. When I was hit, I had 3 men left on one gun & 4 on the other. Both my guns had been knocked about a bit & I went back for some spare parts, it was while getting in to them again that I got hit. I was dodging from shell hole to shell hole trying to dodge the H.E. stuff, when a shrap burst in the air & got me. A couple of gas shells burst at the same time & the hit on the arm prevented me from getting my gas helmet out, & I could not get my field dressing out either so they wrapped a handkerchief around to stop bleeding, & cut as hard as I could for the gun emplacements. When I reached the guns I was just about all in with gas. The corp tied up my arm with the field dressing & gave me a drink of cold tea. When the effects of the gas had passed on a bit, I had to run the gauntlet of the barrage again to get down to the dressing station. Which was about 2 miles back; 2 miles of rushes from shell hole to shell hole, playing hide & seek with bursting shells. You can hear them coming about 1 second before they reach you & in that second it is a case of getting into the nearest shell crater & then your luck depends on how near the shell bursts. If it is more than 4 yards away, you stand a sporting chance. He ran to the dressing station at Charing Cross, had his arm properly dressed & put in a sling. From there by motor ambulance to the 3rd Field Hospital. Next by motor ambulance to the Casualty Clearing Station. From there by train to the 56th General Hospital at Etaples, arm again dressed. Next by train to Calais & channel boat to Dover. Train from Dover to Walton on Thames & a final motor drive to the No 2 Gen. New Zealand Hospital, on the bank of the Thames, about 15 miles from London. Where they were well looked after by N.Z. Sisters & Doctors. Ronald was concerned, too, for his new wife Peggy, and wants her to come down from Grantham for a week. She was worried when he left for France, and seeing the hospital trains coming in was upsetting. She was afraid she would lose her new husband. He was given 10 days leave on the 19 September and to report back to Grantham. He again left for France on 26 October 1917. Letter No 27. 27 November 1917, from Bethnall Green Military Hospital, London The bullet wound to his left hand was not as bad as the previous one but had dirt in it that required an operation to clean it. The machine gun bullet went right through the hand which “had a thick layer of dirt and filth, containing essence of dead Fritz and dead Tommy”. The draft train pulled out of Grantham at 10pm 24 October with Peggy on the platform saying an emotional goodbye. Sgt Jones and Sgt Bill Sykes were put in charge of 120 NZ machine gunners, who were mainly conscripts. They went by train to Folkestone, paddle steamer to Boulogne, and by motor lorry to the machine gun base at Camiers, to hand over the draft. On 7 November he was put in charge of 70 men that were to join up with their various companies. Marching under a full pack and in the rain, they arrived at Lumbres, via Etaples and St Omer. Ronald was worn out by the hard march due to his lungs being affected by gas in August. Here they were split into smaller parties to join up with 5 M.G. Coy. Early morning, 11 November, Ronald, now with 19 men set out by train to Poperinge, then marched to Scottish Wood near Ypres. At 3 am the guns were packed on the limbres. After breakfast they set out for the line. “The first place we struck was Ypres, it has been a fine big Belgium town but is now a heap of ruins. After passing through Ypres we marched along a shell torn road to the tune of bursting 9.2 shells & an occasional gas shell. The whole country side around here is just one huge mass of ruin. Every tree has been hit by shells & it is impossible to find a sq yard of ground that has not been turned up with shell fire & mines, & all low lying country is flooded. Every shell hole on high or low country is filled with water, & the ground soft & waterlogged, so that your feet sink in to the knees & sometimes deeper.” They reached Clapham Junction and headed across country towards Passchendaele. From here they were forced to manhandle the guns and equipment as the the roads were blown to pieces. Walking on duck boards and over shell holes, all the time coming under sniper fire and shelling. On 14 November 1917 the Kiwi’s arrived to relieve the British. The gun position turned out to be an old Fritz pill box, 5 foot thick built of steel and concrete. The Tommies they were relieving took off as soon as the New Zealanders arrived. Dozens of dead Germans were lying about, five just outside the door. Their opinion of the recent occupiers was pretty low as the place was a mess, ‘even doing their jobs outside the door instead of sneaking out to a shell hole, and that made the smell even worse’. They set to work covering the bodies with a layer of earth and cleaning up the remaining mess outside. They mounted their guns in shell holes a few feet away with a few more sandbags for improvement. The side of a shell hole was dug out and a log put across for a W.C. Next they bailed out the water and the rotten mess from the pill box and when it got dark the found empty cans and planks to make bunks so they could sleep off the damp floor. They could make a small fire at night or early morning, when the smoke couldn’t be seen, to boil water for tea. To collect daily rations and fresh water meant an arduous four hour round trip to Clapham Junction. Two men would leave at 4am under a constant artillery barrage, with Fritz sniping with rifles and machine gun fire as they returned. Their position at this time consisted of Lewis guns and two Vickers machine gun outposts. Nearby was the ruins of a Belgian Chateau [Polderhoek] that the Hun had placed 28 or more machine gun posts. Ronald reports that their two guns did more damage than the enemy’s 28. The pill box was hit numerous times without much impression, but the concussion shook them up a bit. As the pill box was an old Fritz one the door was on the same side as the shells were coming from. Fortunately none came through the door. Corp Coster was sitting on the home made W.C. when a shell landed in it, but fortunately didn’t burst! Fritz sends over quite a few duds. 12.45am, 20 Nov 1917. Ronald’s two guns had 8 men, a Corporal and himself. Their gun position was near Polygon Wood with Passchendaele ridge on the left, mounted in what was called Cameron Covert. He was just coming off duty when he was hit in the hand by a machine gun bullet. Waiting for the shell fire to ease, he made out to the dressing station called the Buttes. It then took 4 hours to get to the Ypres - Menin Road (to get to an ambulance), dodging shells all the way by running from one shell hole to another. The hand was re-dressed at the NZ dressing station at Ypres. Here he was inoculated and given hot cocoa and food. Then on to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, the wound re-dressed, then a meal before retiring on a stretcher. The next morning one of the wounded boys who could use two hands gave him his first shave in 8 days. On the morning of the 21st Nov he went by hospital train to the 2nd Australian General Hospital near Boulogne. There he had a shower bath, a change of clothes, and cocoa and a slice of bread. By the morning his hand had swollen and very painful due to the dirt infection, and an operation would be needed. Xrays showed that the bullet had somehow missed breaking any bones. On 26 Nov he was sent to England to the London Hospital, as the NZ hospitals were filling up. Treatment here was stricter than at Walton with more confinement and less luxuries. Patients were only given three shillings and six pence per week and they needed to pay for their own confinement once out of hospital. This wasn’t enough to bring Peggy down to London. He was to be out of hospital and in Hornchurch by Christmas, so was trying to get a few days leave to visit my little wife on the 25th. His last paragraph was a request for a jar of Brice’s Medicated Shaving Cream, only made in New Zealand and the best shaving soap made. June to September, 1918 - the advance to Bapaume, Ronald’s movements can now only be traced through the activities of the NZ Division. The Division was rested from front line duty at this time and undertook a period of training. The Allies had pushed through Amiens and progressing through the Somme. At the beginning of July the NZ Machine Gun Battalion was sent in as relief, covering the salient near Rossignol Wood. They provided much needed support for the advances during July and August 1918. By 23 August the division’s objectives were to take Loupart Wood and Grevillers. The morning of 24th proved to be wet and cool. The attack began at 4.15am. Loupart Wood was defended by many machine gun nests and was finally taken late morning, but not without casualties. Grevillers was taken by 7am. Somewhere between here and Grevillers Lieut Coote, Sgt Jones and Pvt Smith attacked the enemy strong post. A successful little operation according to the war diary, unfortunately Pvt Smith was wounded and Sgt Jones was killed. Letter of condolence - the last letter is from Ron’s wife, Peggy, and states: Dear Dad, this is the copy of the letter I got from France. France 2.9.1918. Dear Mrs Jones, It is with deepest regret that I join with the Boys of your husbands Section (No2), in according you our most sincere Sympathies and Condolence for the loss of your husband “Sgt Jones”. He was a very fine soldier & gained the respect of all his men for the fearless & manly way in which he carried out his duties, often under heavy fire from the “enemy”. He died at his post sniping Huns & keeping down their MG fire so as our infantry could advance. He was killed right out by a snipers bullet. I was not actually with Sgt Jones when he was killed but I was with him just prior to his death & after it. I took charge of No2 Section as well as No3, my own Section. The officer who was with Sgt Jones was badly wounded & when he left the trench he said to me - By jove, Sergt Jones will do me “He’s a brick”. His officer asked me to recommend Sgt Jones for bravery & I did, so I don’t know for certain if you will get any decoration for your husband but we all hope so. We are fixing up his grave & putting up a cross suitably inscribed over his grave. You may well be proud of your soldier husband because he was a hero & a credit to his Country. If you require any further information I am at your service so don’t forget. We all join again in expressing our deepest regret & sympathies for you great loss. Believe me to be yours sincerely, Lieut W.W. Forsyth, No3 Section, Wgtn Coy, N.Z.M.G. Batt. France. After the war Peggy Jones and their son Stanley came to New Zealand about 1921. They settled in Petone with Ronald’s parents and siblings. She later met Ron Coakley, married and lived in Alice Town, Lower Hutt for a while. As the Jones family already had a son Stanley, Stanley Charles was known as “Little Stan” within the family. Stanley Charles Jones enlisted in WW2, trained at Woodburn, Christchurch, NZ and became a pilot officer of the RNZAF. Based at Staverton, Gloucester, he was killed in a flying accident near Cheltenham, 11 Feb 1942. A copy of Major Luxford’s official history book, With the Machine Gunners in France and Pallestine, has long been in our family. It automatically opens to pages 136 and 137. They depict the events at the time of Ronald’s heroic death, and they are the most handled pages in the book. Dark Journey by Glyn Harper gives wonderful descriptions of the New Zealanders actions in France and of the day of Ronald’s sacrifice. [Record since amended - NZWGT] Read More