Robert Jones (VC)
Robert Jones VC (19 August 1857 – 6 September 1898) was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift in January 1879, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Jones was born at Penrhos, a hamlet to the north of Raglan in Monmouthshire, Wales. Military achievements Jones was 21 years old, serving as a private in the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (later The South Wales Borderers), British Army din the Anglo-Zulu War. At Rorke's Drift he and Pte. 593 William Jones were posted in a room of the hospital facing the hill. The two men kept up a steady fire against enormous odds. Then, while one worked to cut a hole through the partition into the next room, the other shot Zulu after Zulu through the loopholed walls, using his own and his comrade's rifle alternately as the barrels became too hot to hold from the incessant firing. By their combined efforts the two men carried six patients to safety through the broken partition. A seventh, Sgt. Maxfield, was delirious and refused to be