THE VIOLENT YEARS - PART ONE

The Bob Jones story commenced with his mother becoming pregnant during the early days of World War II. From the embryo stage and for the next nine months of incubation he would ‘unknowingly sense’ the stresses of his mother, and the traumatism of the world around the both of them. Being born into, and experiencing adolescence through an entire World War, caused no limitations on the amount of love showered upon this infant that was born with not only his mothers red hair, he was also born blessed with her audacious Irish temper and accompanying infallible spirit. This sharing of solo parent sibling togetherness and matriarchal lovingness, was almost as if they both knew what was about to happen as a result of this bloody war, and what it was about to take away from both of them.

This bloody World War II was Created by the Dictator of Nazi Germany dir Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and his ‘Germanic Global Vision’ for a superior human race, via a breeding program of pure Germanic Aryans had come marginally close, to taking over complete control of planet earth. This would be at the expense of multiple millions of human lives, and mass devastation of much of Europe.

The conflict resulted in the death of the biological father of a very young Bob Jones, his father (dada), being born of a Jewish mother and taking his fathers Scottish name of Thompson. Never knowing this son of his wife, born of her Celtic red hair… Bobs father had gone overseas in what he believed to be the defence of Australian shores, and came to a rude awakening with several years inside prisoner of war camps eventually being the cause of his early death!

Hitler’s allies, the Japanese, had bombed Pearl Harbour and bought America into a war that the ''Yanks'' were not particularly interested in. The Japanese bombed their way across the Pacific, continuing down through the South Pacific, devastating Papua New Guinea and eventually Darwin, Australia.

Before the end of this ‘bloody’ war his mother would fall in love and marry the boss (Victor Sydney Jones) of the restaurant where she was waiting tables. Defending our northern shores against the Japanese air attacks would have Bob’s stepfather suffer post war trauma for the rest of his natural life. This mindless cost of human life and suffering continued until the Americans introduced the world to a new dimension of modern warfare…

The catastrophic ‘American Atom Bomb’, our 20th Century ultimate ‘terrorist attack’, aimed specifically at the civilian population of the Japanese Capitol city of Hiroshima, truly the ‘weapon of mass destruction’ for its time in our history.

This ‘necessary’ act of terror totally annihilating all elderly citizens, mothers and young children. Three entire generations eliminated from the planet earth in a miniscule moment of time, leaving an indelible spot within the subconscious mind of master Bob Jones. Plus the city’s total structural devastation which caused this demise of Japans military and one of the initial causes of the crumbling of Adolf Hitler and his Germanic Empire. This bellicose dictator’s supposed eventual suicide brought long awaited peace to the world. Albeit only temporary due to ongoing conflict in Korea and Vietnam etc;

This ‘WIN’ was followed by mass depression and psychological meltdown of our young heroes returning home to our shores ‘totally’ wounded; physically, mentally and worst of all, spiritually. Practically nothing in the way of support for the then hard to identify ‘psychological post trauma stress’ was provided during these times. And with what little there was, having no benefit as these men through both war and peace had been assimilated into a ‘fanatically religious’ patriarchal based society. Where it was unmanly to complain about anything, let alone ask anyone for help.

Bob Jones’ parents and his grand parents had lived through two world wars divided by ‘The Great Depression’. He remembers well his step father’s advice during these adolescent years, “Son, two world wars were bad enough, but I hope as you grow and travel through life, that you will never have to live through a repeat of anything comparative to this depression. In a war we can still be our own individual heroes but in times of depression, nothing strips a man more of his individual dignity and identity, and the basic rites of being a human”.