We watch Dad’s Army and see the Chief ARP Warden Hodges bickering with Captain Mainwaring. We can still enjoy the light-hearted humour of the shows. The characters are just figures of fun.
Let’s put the record straight: this story is one of many when we learn what the A.R.P. Wardens really did to win their honours, with incredible bravery and disregard for their own safety; just their sense of duty and care to those trapped in their homes during the blitz.
Kent A.R.P Warden Honoured
Remained Four Hours in Collasping House
The King has approved the award of the British Empire Medal (Civil Division) to Warden Donald Louis Jones, Air Raid Precautions Service, Kent for meritorious service.
During a recent raid on a Kentish town a number of people were buried under the debris of a house. At considerable risk Warden Jones crawled under some tons of wreckage and found two persons pinned down by heavy joists which had fallen with the floor above. For four hours, during which heavy building material was likely to collapse, he protected with his body the heads and faces of the trapped people from debris which was dislodged during the rescue operations, and encouraged them while giving directions to the rescue party. It was mainly owing to his courage and endurance that the victims were evenutally released.
This is the first award of its kind to a warden.
[Source: Bromley & Kentish Times, 2nd August 1940, page 5]
Images sourced from London Gazette, weighton-medals.co.uk and ww2today.com
If you know more details about ARP Warden Donald Louis Jones, please do get in touch
Donald Louis Jones is my grandfather. My mum still has newspaper clippings from the Weekly Dispatch which ran the story with the headline “Is this enough?”
Sadly Donald’s back was broken in the rescue and he couldn’t perform in active service afterwards.
He was evacuated to Surrey and tried to be an ARP there but his adopted town would not take volunteers from the evacuee community so he
went on to dedicate his life to the Scouting movement in his free time instead. He met his wife Mary Jones, a nurse, when she cared for his injuries and they went on to have 5 children and 16 grandchildren. Sadly he died before I was born so I never got to meet him. I only recently learnt of his heroism when my mum got all the papers and photos out the loft to help with my niece’s school project.
The Weekly Dispatch article says that the woman rescued later died but my mum says she doesn’t think this is necessarily accurate. I haven’t been able to confirm from any other articles I’ve found from the time.
As a result of Donald’s bravery (and others like him) the public called for a medal to recognise civilian bravery and the George Cross medal was created. Donald did not receive the George Cross but his mum went with him to Buckingham palace to receive his OBE and she was incredibly proud of her son. We have a photo of them together looking very happy.
I hope I have retold the tale accurately from what my mum and the newspaper clippings have told me.