H Jones VC: the Life and Death of an Unusual Hero

Military Review, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Robert S. Bolia

H JONES VC: The Life and Death of an Unusual Hero, John Wilsey, Hutchinson, London, 2003, 320 pages, $18.99.

John Wilsey's H Jones VC: The Life and Death of an Unusual Hero is an unusual book as military biographies go. Some readers might wonder why the life of Lieutenant Colonel Herbert "H" Jones is of sufficient interest to be the subject of a biography. As the last person to win the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Falklands War, he was notorious in British Army circles and much better known for the actions that led to his death than for a distinguished life.

Despite his lack of training as a writer or a historian, Wilsey has crafted a well-written and researched biography of fellow soldier Jones. Using primary sources, including letters Jones exchanged with his wife, Wilsey develops a vivid portrait of the man and the professional soldier and explains Jones' final action--the single-handed charge against an entrenched Argentine position that earned him the Victoria Cross.

Jones's story, which is interesting and moving, describes a particular British officer at a particular point in history. It also describes the modern British regimental system and Jones's successful rise. Perhaps no one is more qualified than Wilsey to provide that account. Wilsey served with Jones in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and subsequently became the Joint Commander of all British Forces in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

The book climaxes with an account of the battles around Darwin and Goose Green, which are also described in Mark Adkin's Goose Green: A Battle is Fought to be Won (Trans-Atlantic Publications, Philadelphia, PA, 1992) and Spencer Fitz-Gibbon's Not Mentioned in Despatches: The History and Mythology of the Battle of Goose Green (Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001). However, Wilsey adds significantly to what is known about the battle based on his own interviews with participants on the scene and at Joint Headquarters at Northwood. The information he gathered allowed him to evaluate some of the discrepancies between Adkin's and Fitz-Gibbon's accounts.

Jones, who commanded 2 Battalion, 2 Parachute Regiment (2Para), was killed while leading the Battalion into battle. The question for Wilsey is why Jones charged the trench when he did and whether his action had the effect 2Para claimed. Did Jones deserve the posthumous Victoria Cross? While Wilsey accepts Fitz-Gibbon's interpretation that Jones's action was the product of the restrictive control British Army doctrine prescribed, his own interpretation comes from the context of Jones's personality and commitment to leadership by example. Wilsey never doubts Jones's charge turned the tide of the battle for Darwin Hill or that this action merited the Victoria Cross.

For students of the Falklands War, H Jones VC is a revealing portrait of a commander who did not live to write his own memoirs; it is the story of a father, a husband, a friend, and perhaps above all, a soldier and the decisions he faced. Although told through the sympathetic voice of a friend and colleague, Jones's story is a fair, objective portrait.

Robert S. Bolia, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

Note: For more information about the Falklands War, see Bolia's article, the "Falklands War: The Bluff Cove Disaster," on page 64.