A Senghenydd-born army major has been remembered following his death from cancer.
Major Huw Francis Isaac Jones passed away on Wednesday, December 11, last year aged 48, from oesophagus cancer.
His funeral, with full Military Honours and Honour Guard, took place on Tuesday, January 21, at St Luke’s Church, in Hodnet, Shropshire.
Mr Jones was diagnosed with oesophagus cancer in April 2019. He organised his own funeral in which The Last Post was played followed by a gun salute.
He leaves behind his wife Patty, his children Lewis, Vivian, Arianna and Edmund, and his grandchildren, Liam and Morgan.
Mr Jones was born in 1971 and lived his early years with his parents, Gill and Edwin at School House, Senghenydd.
He was educated at Senghenydd junior schools and then St Cenydd Comprehensive and Ystrad Mynach College. He trained as a nurse at Prince of Wales Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil and also joined 203 Welsh Field Hospital in Cardiff.
Mr Jones joined the regular army in 1991 and served in places including Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Kenya, Somalia, and more.
He was awarded the Royal Red Cross by the Queen for his services to nursing.
In the UK, he worked at the various military nursing establishments including medical support to our Special Services.
Known to his military colleagues as “Taff”, he continued expanding his nursing knowledge, attending universities at Carlisle and Glamorgan.
He became the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Military Wing of Birmingham Hospital.
He commissioned into the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps in 2013 and soon obtained the rank of Major.
Home postings covered Portsmouth, Aldershot, London, and Chelmsford with his final post at Stoke and Birmingham University Hospitals.