Glynn Jones KIA 1944

Kyt · Sep 17, 2008

England star of future... then came fiery death - Yorkshire Post

OF all the extraordinary life stories of Second World War servicemen which have emerged since 1945, there can't be many more poignant or romantic than that of Glynn Jones.

An ordinary Doncaster schoolboy turned "teenage sports superstar", Jones might have ended up playing football for England – but died aged 20 when his Lancaster bomber was shot down during the disastrous Nuremberg raid of March 30-31 1944 when RAF Bomber Command lost 96 planes in one night.

A multi-talented sports fanatic at Doncaster Grammar School in the 1930s, Jones excelled at football, cricket, athletics and boxing, winning virtually every sports prize the area had to offer.

A talent scout working for Charlton Athletic's legendary manager Jimmy Seed spotted him early in 1939 and persuaded him to pack a bag and get on the train to London.

Seed – the Bill Shankly or Brian Clough of his day – had turned Charlton from a Third Division (South) side to FA Cup winners pushing for the League title. In four seasons he took the Addicks to four Wembley finals, including two FA Cup Finals, and achieved the club's highest ever League finish when they came second in the old First Division in 1936/37.

The sixteen-year-old Jones, an outside-right or right-half at Doncaster Grammar, signed for Charlton as a centre-forward in June 1939. He must have felt like the sky was the limit, the Addicks having just finished 4th in the First Division.

But his dreams of footballing glory were put on hold by the outbreak of war three months later and Jones never got to play first team football for the London side. Instead, like many professional footballers during the war, he became a journeyman who got a game wherever he could – as well as turning out for Doncaster Rovers back home at Belle Vue.

One man who will be thinking of Jones tomorrow night when Rovers play Charlton at the Keepmoat Stadium will be Norman "Curly" Burnham, a Doncaster-born pensioner and Rovers fan who took Jones – three years younger – under his wing at Doncaster Grammar.

"Everyone could see Glynn was something special," said Mr Burnham, 88. "He was outstanding at soccer, cricket, athletics and boxing, and was determined to be a professional sportsman.

"He lived near me in the Doncaster mining village of Bentley, which was a hot bed for soccer players at that time. Within a stone's throw away from me there were players like Arthur Jones, who went to Arsenal, Eddie Burbanks, who went to Sunderland, and Roy Smith, who went to Sheffield Wednesday.

"No one was really surprised when Glynn signed for Charlton, one of the best teams in the country at that time."

As Jones grew older he embarked on a nationwide footballing odyssey, playing for Millwall, Aldershot and Bradford City, as well as the Rovers. Rovers' historian Tony Bluff said: "If a player had joined one of the services and was stationed in the vicinity of a football club he could just ask for a game and the club wouldn't need the permission of the club he was signed to. He could simply play as a guest, sometimes using a pseudonym."

So Jones played for the Rovers first team six times during the war years, while in 1943-44 he guested for Bradford City and Aldershot.

He played for Aldershot around the same time as Joe Mercer, Tommy Lawton and Denis Compton. Matt Busby, who was also stationed nearby, asked Aldershot for a game too – but couldn't get one.

In 1942 Jones joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve, but precise details of his RAF career are sketchy. His nephew Malvin Sellors, only two when Jones died, said: "We have Glynn's trophies, a scrapbook, newspaper cuttings and some photographs, but there's still a lot we don't know about him."

What is known is that Jones became a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber of 460 (Royal Australian Air Force) Squadron piloted by Flight Sergeant Charles Haley Hargreaves, of Gordon, New South Wales.

Jones's last flight from Binbrook airfield, near Grimsby, was in Lancaster ND 738 on the night of the infamous Nuremberg raid when of the 779 bombers taking part 96 were lost. Jones's plane – the 81st downed by German fighters – crashed near Nuremberg and he is buried at Durnbach War Cemetery, south east of Munich.

"He packed a lot into a short life," said Mr Burnham. "But I've always thought it was sad he couldn't fulfil his potential. There were many people around at that time who believed Glynn could have played for England."
Click to expand...

Name: JONES, GLYNN
Initials: G
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (Air Gnr.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 460 (R.A.A.F.) Sqdn.
Age: 20
Date of Death: 31/03/1944
Service No: 1684714
Additional information: Son of Sarah Ann Jones, of Bentley, Doncaster, Yorkshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 8. B. 4.
Cemetery: DURNBACH WAR CEMETERY

Lancaster ND738 (AR-E)

Mission to Nuremburg

Took off at 22.19 from Binbrook. Nearing the target, shot down by a night-fighter and crashed with tremdous force at Ermreuth, 4 km WSW of the small town of Grafenberg. All are buried in Durnbach War Cemetery.

F/Sgt C H Hargreaves RAAF
Sgt D F Siddall
F/O J E Beaumont
F/Sgt W H Spargo RAAF
F/Sgt G D Moody
Sgt G Jones
Sgt A E Leggett

liverpool annie · Sep 17, 2008

Remarkable life story of war hero Glynn - The Star

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Glynn Jones KIA 1944

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