Malcolm Jones, landlord at the Nag's Head in Lloyd
Street, Manchester receiving his Pingat Jassa medal for service in Malaya from
1957-60.
Malcolm Jones, landlord at the Nag's Head in Lloyd
Street, Manchester receiving his Pingat Jassa medal for service in Malaya from
1957-60.
Paul Rhys
23/ 8/2007
A MAN who fought as a teenage soldier has been awarded a medal - half a century
later. Malcolm Jones was just 18 when he entered a conflict that was to claim
the lives of 519 British servicemen and thousands of Malaysian troops and
civilians.
The Malayan Emergency pitted British and allied forces against terrorist Chin
Peng and his outlawed Communist Party.
Now, 50 years on, Mr Jones has received the Malaysian Service Medal from the
country's government to commemorate half a century of independence.
Mr Jones rose to the rank of sergeant and now runs the Old Nag's Head in Lloyd
Street, off Deansgate, in Manchester.
He said: "I'm just proud to know that I have served Queen and country. As far as
we know, I'm the first pub landlord in Manchester to get the medal.
"I enjoyed my military service and got to travel all over the world - Malaya,
Borneo, Singapore are just a few.
"It was a great time of my life."
Mr Jones served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, supplying munitions and other
equipment to the front line from positions in the jungle.
It was his time overseas that eventually led him to settle in Manchester.
He was found as a baby in the streets of Monaghan, Eire, and never knew his
parents.
He moved to Heywood after 13 years in the Army to stay with a friend from the
Lancashire Fusiliers he met while serving in British Guiana.
Meetings of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans' Association are now held at
his pub, where he was presented with his medal.
The official presentation to more than 100 veterans was held at Stockport
Armoury last week, but Malcolm's lunchtime rush meant he had to stay at his post
behind the bar.
Roy Taylor, 67, secretary of the association's Manchester Branch, said he was
pleased veterans of a largely-forgotten conflict were being honoured.
He said: "When we came back from the Far East, people would say, `oh you've been
sunning yourselves in Borneo'.
"It meant nothing to them, but several of my old mates are buried out there.
"A lot of servicemen were killed or seriously wounded out there and some carry
the scars to this day, but people tend to forget this.
"To have this award from the Malaysian government is an indication of their
gratitude."
Roy, who served in the RAF, added: "We all did our own little bits, and now
we've got our memories and our friends.
"Whether you were a cook or on the front line, what you did counted.
"We don't have ranks any more. Everyone in the association is a comrade."