A NEWTOWNBUTLER native who served with distinction north of the Arctic Circle during World War II has been posthumously awarded a medal.

Irish Guardsman, Edward D. Jones, was in action with the 1st Battalion, 24th Division of the Irish Guards as part of the Norwegian campaign in May 1940.

At the end of the war, Mr. Jones returned to Northern Ireland and joined HM Prison Service as an officer at Crumlin Road Prison.

In September 1979, after 33 years of service at Crumlin Road, the Fermanagh man was shot dead yards from the prison gates.

He was 60 years old.

Then, over three decades after his death, it was announced in 2012 that a medal would be awarded to subjects of the British Commonweath who served on convoys north of the Arctic Circle.

Earlier this year, 98-year-old Dorothy Jones proudly received the Arctic Star medal on behalf of her late husband.

During the Norwegian campaign, Guardsman Jones was on a Polish ship, the HMT Chobry, along with many other troops of the Irish, Welsh and Scots Guard regiments, when the vessel suffered a direct hit from a Luftwaffe bomber.

A blazing inferno divided the ship.

Over 600 men were transferred by local fishing boats, known as ‘puffers’, using gangways and ropes to a British Royal Naval ship, HMS Wolverine, which came to the aid of the stricken Chobry.

Guardsman Jones was one of the many brave men responsible for helping some of the injured troops off the doomed ship.

The Captain of HMS Wolverine is recorded to have reported: “I never before realised what the discipline of the Guards was… There was no confusion, no hurry, and no sign of haste or flurry… Their conduct in the most trying circumstances, in the absence of senior officers, on a burning ship, open at any time to a new attack, was as fine, or finer than, the conduct of the soldiers on the Birkenhead. It may interest you to know that 694 men were got on board the Wolverine; in 16 minutes.”

At the time of his death in 1979, Mr. Jones was Assistant Governor at Crumlin Road prison.

In April 1974, he had been awarded the BEM.

The Citation stated: “His devotion to duty and loyalty to senior staff had been exceptional, particularly during the past four years when the staff has had to bear extreme pressure and strains.”

In October 1977, a bomb had destroyed the front of his family home.

He was one of 31 prison officers murdered during the Troubles.

His family still have relations who live in Lisnaskea.