Joseph Daniel Jones was a miner from Abercwmboi. He served in France and Belgium.
Elisabeth Jones remembers her grandfather ‘Jos’:
“He was a miner. I don’t know why he went as it would have been an exempt occupation. I don’t know whether he volunteered. He never talked about it. It became a thing in the family, ‘Grandpa won’t talk about the war’”.
“He certainly hated the war. He was very gentle and loved Welsh poetry; he really wasn’t cut out to be a soldier. I’m told the only thing he did say about it was that he got a job peeling potatoes, then he was happy… he might have said it as a comfort to people. He gave no indication about how hard it was or what was going on.”
During the war Jos sent postcards to his family to let them know he was safe. One postcard expresses his fears about not finding work in the mines when he comes back.
Elisabeth Jones recalls: “He probably put the album together himself when he came back. He was very sensitive and did a lot of writing. It’s the sort of thing I can imagine him doing.”
After years working as a miner Joseph died of silicosis.