S/Ldr J. G. West was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand, on 30th October, 1912. He worked as a civil servant in the Manawatu before joining the RNZAF in May 1940.

On completion of training he reached the UK and was posted in the Spring of 1941 to 616 Squadron based at Tangmere. The Squadron at this time was part of the Tangmere Wing and was returning to the offensive, using 65 Squadron's Supermarine Mk II Spitfires. 
 
As a Sergeant Pilot, Jeffrey would fly, on a number of occasions, as wingman to Wing Commander Douglas Bader. On 25th June, 1941, he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Gravelines. By July 1941 the squadron had re-equipped with Mk Vb Spitfires and on the 10th of that month Jeffrey destroyed a Bf 109F over north-east France.
Flying offensive patrols over France carried their danger and on one occasion, Jeffrey had a narrow escape after his Spitfire had been heavily hit during an encounter with Messerschmitts. He was just able to fly his damaged fighter within sight of the English coast before the engine seized up, forcing him to bale out. Fishermen picked him up shortly afterwards. 
 
Now operating from the airfield of Westhampnett, Jeffery West damaged a Bf109 on the 7th August, destroyed one and shared in a further on the 9th, and claimed a further shared probable on the 4th September. 
 
At the end of the summer he was awarded a DFM and was commissioned, but in February, 1942, he was posted out to Malta, arriving on the 16th aboard a Sunderland. Serving with 249 Squadron, using Luqa Airfield as a dispersed base as Te Kali was frequently bombed, West flew some of the first Spitfires to reach the island. On Sunday 15th March three Junkers Ju 88’s with fighter escort raided Luqa and Valetta shortly before lunchtime. Eight persons were killed, including two soldiers. West, accompanied by Sgt Tayleur jointly damaged one of the bombers before being driven away by the escort. 
 
On the 8th April, 1942, Pilot Officer West, during another bombing raid, attacked a Ju-88 head on and saw strikes on its cockpit. He then turned onto the tail of a Bf 109 and closed, firing all his ammunition and causing black smoke to appear; this may have been a 6/JG 53 aircraft flown by Lt. Hans Moller which crashed into the sea off Valetta. Moller was later picked up by an ASR craft from Sicily. 
 
On 22nd April, 1942, Jeffrey courageously tried to save the pilot of a Spitfire who had crash landed near Rabat. Although he managed to extract the pilot (P/O Frank Jemmett) from his aircraft he died later in hospital. 
 
Jeffrey fell ill towards the end of April and was evacuated to Egypt at the end of the month. There he later served with 103 MU, where many months later, after the fall of Sicily in August 1943, he was able to intercept a long-range reconnaissance Bf109G and shoot it down into the sea off the African coast. He was a Squadron Leader by this time. 
 
After the war had ended, Jeffrey returned to Hamilton, New Zealand, and was an accountant there for many years.

Jeffrey West died of a heart attack on 4th April, 1998.