In memory of Llewelyn Greenly-Jones
Llewelyn Greenly-Jones was born in June 1920, the third son of railway porter Hector Greenly-Jones and Edith Greenly-Jones. They lived at 5 Bryn Difyr, Bangor. Llewelyn attended the Central School in Bangor.
On leaving school he was employed as a sales assistant at the Lotus & Delta shoe shop in High Street, Bangor, but left to join the Welsh Guards well before the outbreak of war. In 1940 he became engaged to Vera Grace Keen of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
They made plans to marry in February 1943 but brought the event forward to 22 January because Llewelyn and his comrades had to leave for North Africa in February. There they joined Montgomery's 8th Army 'Desert Rats'. By mid-April they were fighting on the Enfidaville Line in The Battle of Tunisia.
The final assault for Tunis began on 6 May. Two days later, Llewelyn died from a shrapnel wound in the neck as he helped others who were under fire at Enfidaville. He was buried at Enfidaville War Cemetery.
Vera learned of his death from an orderly. He handed her a letter from an officer who described a “sense of unbearable loss” and Llewelyn’s loyalty, generosity and “sunny disposition which probably made him the friend of anyone who met him”. He added: “He was a friend to me, rather than a servant – how much of one I did not realise until after he was killed.”
Four days after Llewelyn’s death, the last Axis resistance in Africa ended. More than 230,000 men surrendered and became prisoners of war. Many were sent to camps in North Wales.
Vera married her second husband, Kenneth W Griffin, in August 1944. He was based in Norfolk with the US Army Air Force. She moved to the USA after the war. She visited Llewelyn’s grave in Tunisia twice. She and Kenneth are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC.
With thanks to Keith Greenly-Jones and Dr Bruce D Griffin
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