Perth Second World War veteran Arthur Jones receives long-awaited service medals on his 100th birthday

As Arthur Jones celebrated his 100th birthday at a South Perth aged care facility, surrounded by family, friends and his 101-year-old wife Joyce, he shared his long-held secret life.

“A good wife is the main thing,” Arthur said with a twinkle in his eye.

“She’s the one who kept everything well, that’s for sure.”

Arthur and Joyce met when he was 17, but it was 1942 and the world was at war.

In 1943, 18-year-old Arthur, born and raised in Gingin, joined the RAAF and after initial training in Melbourne he was sent to Darwin, which had been bombed by the Japanese the previous year and was still under attack. .

“Darwin was flattened, absolutely flattened at that point,” he said.

“We’ve been through some pretty tough times together.”

Initially he worked on Catalinas, but was soon posted to the RAAF Air-Sea Rescue Unit, where he was coxswain on one of three high-speed rescue boats, the 03-1.

“It was 60 feet long and 14 feet wide. We had a cruising speed of 35 knots, which was pretty fast on the water,” Arthur said.

“I was told not to talk about war”

But Arthur doesn’t really like to go into the details of this era. In fact, until recently, he barely spoke about the war.

“When we left the services, I was told not to talk about the war, so I didn’t, I kept silent,” he said.

“I had forgotten about it and it was a hell of a time anyway.”

His daughter-in-law Joan Jaques said it took a long time for Arthur to open up.

“When he started talking about it, he told me quietly that he was having nightmares and that he wasn’t having a good time,” she said.

“And I realized he had PTSD, so he talked to the doctor about it and tried to give him treatment and sort things out a little bit that way.”

After the war, Arthur continued to live a full life: starting a family, running a business, playing sports and tending his vegetable garden.

He took a course in stone masonry and started a business which still exists today, Perth Monumental Works, which Mrs Jaques now runs.

“Arthur started it from scratch, and now he’ll be 70 next year, and it’s just evolved,” she said.

“It’s the largest monumental work in the state and the oldest, so it’s really quite a legacy to leave behind and I’m pretty proud to be leading it, to be honest.”

Reconnecting after half a century

Ms Jaques’ involvement in the business was only possible because her mother, Joyce and Arthur found each other.

Having lost contact during the war, they reconnected in 1997 and married in 2000, quickly returning to dancing, which they enjoyed as teenagers.

“When they got back together, that was the first thing they did, they went dancing and they danced two or three times a week,” Ms Jaques said.

“Mum had been a widow for quite a while when Arthur came back on the scene, and it sort of gave her a new lease on life.”

“I enjoyed that moment so much,” Joyce said.

“And it stays with you in your memory.”

“The music in the dance is really beautiful,” Arthur replies before singing to her, which Joyce says she does every day.

Arthur’s son Paul attributes his father’s long life to being active, busy and blessed with good genetics, with his mother living to be 104 and his father to 96.

“There has to be a reason to continue living,” he says.

“I retired from work relatively early and one of his first comments was: what are you going to do all day?”

“No intention of putting your feet up”

Because Arthur rarely spoke about the war and perhaps because of his PTSD, he never sought out the medals he had earned during his war service.

But after recently becoming more interested in his father’s service in the Second World War, Paul arranged for his father’s war medals to be presented to him for the first time, on his 100th birthday.

“Last year on Anzac Day, Dad wore his dad’s medals,” he told those gathered for the celebration.

“Next Anzac Day you can wear yours, Dad.

“We are proud of you, Dad, happy 100th birthday.”

To which his father replied, “Well, I don’t plan on putting my feet up any time soon.” »