The Second World War B.E.M. group of six awarded to Acting Warrant Officer Class 2 J. F. Jones, Royal Artillery, who was decorated for his courageous and efficient services at Belsen concentration camp following its liberation in April 1945

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (5109276 A./W.O. Cl. 2 James F. Jones, R.A.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (5109276 Sjt. J. F. Jones, R.A.), the first lacking suspension bar and fitted with double-ring suspension, contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise good fine, the remainder generally very fine (6) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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B.E.M. London Gazette 9 January 1946.

The original recommendation states:

‘Warrant Officer J. F. Jones supervised the administration of some 1700 inmates of Belsen concentration camp for six weeks up to May 1945. In spite of typhus, dysentery and enteritis, of which there were many thousands of cases, Warrant Officer Jones moved among the people everywhere listening to their troubles, answering their queries, ensuring fair distribution of clothing and bedding as supplies became available, organising the kitchens and service of meals and firmly but tactfully re-educating them in matters of cleanliness and health. He worked untiringly and his patience and tact were the main factors in creating an atmosphere of good will throughout the camp. In addition, his individual example has immensely enhanced the prestige of the British Army in the minds of men and women of many nationalities.’

James Frederick Jones was serving in No. 113 L.A.A. Regiment, Royal Artillery at the time of being awarded his B.E.M. Sold with an original copy of the illustrated pamphlet The Story of Belsen, printed in Hannover, Germany in 1945, and written by Captain Andrew Pares, the Adjutant of the recipient’s unit - the following extract, which appears under the heading “The Task”, sheds further light on the sheer scale of the tragedy facing Warrant Officer Jones and his colleagues:

‘About 50% of the inmates were in need of immediate hospital treatment. All of them had been without food for seven days, and prior to that living on the normal concentration camp semi-starvation scale of diet.

There were about 10,000 typhus-infected bodies, mostly naked and many in an advanced stage of decomposition, lying around the camp, both inside and outside the huts, which required immediate burial; and the daily death rate was 400-500.

The living conditions were appalling - people were sleeping three in a bed, mainly treble-bunk beds, and huts which would normally accommodate 60 were housing 600. There were no sanitary arrangements, and both inside and outside the huts was an almost continuous carpet of dead bodies, human excreta, rags and filth.

There were some 50,000 persons to supply and feed, but the cooking facilities were totally inadequate. There were five cookhouses of varying size equipped with a number of large boilers, and the only containers available to distribute the food were a few large dustbins. A large proportion of the occupants were bed-ridden, and many were incapable even of feeding themselves.

The inmates had lost all self-respect and had been degraded morally to the level of beasts. Their clothes were in rags and teeming with lice; they had no eating utensils or plates, and at the time of the food distribution they behaved more like ravenous wolves than human beings.

There were 49 S.S. male and 26 female prison guards under close arrest and a Wermacht Hospital with 2,000 sick and convalescent German soldiers.

The electricity which came from Celle was cut off and the wiring sabotaged; the water supply which depended on it for pumping had consequently failed.

The Russian P.O.Ws were organised by 10 Garrison into a battalion with their own officers, equipped with rifles, issued with British Army rations and eventually they superseded the Hungarians on the Camp Guard.

A Maternity Home and Children’s Ward were set up under 32 C.C.S. and later 9 General Hospital. A cot was made for each child by R.A. joiners, complete with blankets and waterproof sheets. Toys were impounded from the neighbouring towns, and swings were built for the playground. It is worthy of note that a very high percentage of the babies born were suffering from congenital veneral disease.

Reception Offices were set up by the R.A. under the auspices of 904 and 618 Military Government Detachments to assist in the allocation of accommodation, registration and clothing of the evacuees, and administration of cookhouses and control of labour. in one camp where no cookhouses were available, a wooden building was erected by R.A. labour and equipped to feed 4,000 in the space of five days.

Numerous guards were provided from time to time at the gates, Garrison H.Q., cinema, the D.I.D. and Supply Depot and in every cookhouse. Mobile jeep patrols toured the area continuously throughout the night to prevent looting.

Two Troops of R.A. worked exclusively under the medical authorities, one at the Wermacht Hospital and the other in the Hospital Area, which they completely wired off and guarded to prevent unauthorised movement in and out.

The concentration camp was burned down hut by hut under R.A. supervision and on 21 May 1945 the last hut was burned to the ground.’