Chief Radio Supervisor Don "Wildfire" Jones was presented with the British Empire Medal by Admiral Sir John Frewin, Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth on 26 September 1968.

Don joined the Royal Navy as a boy in 1941 at HMS St George on the Isle of Man. He saw war service in the Home, Mediterranean and Far East Fleets in HMS Hambledon and HMS Begum as well as Chatham Signal School and Talwar Signal School, Bombay. Thereafter it was Whitehall Wireless, HMS Phoebe (2nd Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean) and numerous other drafts ashore and afloat until he was appointed to Flag Officer Medway in 1961.

Don received the C-in-C AWI's Commendation in 1954 while serving in HMS Vidal, a survey vessel, in the West Indies. He qualified as a Radio Communications Instructor in 1958.

In 1963 he was drafted to Admiral Commanding Reserves staff as the first Administration Officer and Senior Instructor at HMS Wildfire. Don retired from the Royal Navy in June 1970 and started to work for GEC Avionics in Rochester.

Until Don joined Wildfire in 1964 he had sported a 'full set' (beard). He remained clean shaven until the day he was presented with his BEM when he returned to a full set, which he retained thereafter. It is reliably reported (by Don) that it was still in place when he retired from GEC Avionics in 1989, though no longer black!