Cousins united in life and death

There were no ‘Pals’ battalions in the Second World War, but the way in which the Army was rapidly expanded following Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 led to some similarities in the newly raised second-line battalions like the 2/5th Foresters.  Workmates, friends and relatives often joined up together, not in droves like 1914 but in small groups.  One of the most poignant examples of this is the story of Laban and Frederick Jones.

As their surname suggests the two young men were of Welsh heritage.  Their grandfather Edward was born in Llanver, Montgomeryshire, but moved to Belper in Derbyshire in the 1870s.  He had eight children, two of whom, John and William, worked as banksmen in the collieries.  Their sons, Laban (born in Heage on 27 Feb 1919) and Fred (born Ripley on 23 April 1919) are still shown as civilians on the 1939 register, taken at the end of September.   But the two cousins must have been called up only days later.  Their service numbers are just fourteen apart.  Both were posted to the 2/5th and went to France aged 21 in April 1940.  At that point in the war they were not expecting to fight – the 2/5th went as a labour battalion to work on the lines of communication.  But by 26th May, with every available man needed to stem the breakthrough of the German panzers, they found themselves in the front line south of the mining town of Oignies.

There is no detailed account of what happened to Fred and Laban that day.  They may have been fighting in the same company, even the same platoon or section.  Even their exact time of death is unknown, they were originally reported missing on 26th May, their grave markers record their deaths as being on the 27th. All we know for certain is that they were both killed in action, and that they were later both buried in the communal cemetery in the town.  Born within two months and three miles of each other, in death they fell on the same day and are buried barely ten yards apart.