Forum: Air Force Life

Posted on the San Antonio Express-News web site mysa.com

http://www.mysanantonio.com/obituaries/ ... iders.html

Web Posted: 12/06/2008 12:00 CST Jones, 94, was among last survivors of Doolittle's Raiders

By Edmund Tijerina - Express-News

Although the military career of Maj. Gen. David M. Jones took him all over the world, he was best known as a pilot with Doolittle's Raiders, and he had special connections with San Antonio.

Jones died Nov. 25 of heart failure. He was 94.

Born in Oregon and reared in Tucson, he enlisted in the Army after graduating from the University of Arizona. His early training included learning to ride on horseback. After he served in the Army cavalry, he went to the Army Air Corps and came to San Antonio for pilot training at what was then Kelly Field.

In 1942, he volunteered as a pilot for a secret mission under Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle.

Doolittle's Raiders flew 16 B-25 bombers from the U.S.S. Hornet on a secret attack on Tokyo and four other cities. The raid, on April 18, 1942, gave a huge boost to a United States, still reeling from Pearl Harbor.

Jones, a captain at the time, was the pilot of plane No. 5. He had to bail out of his craft over China, but landed in friendly hands and returned to the U.S. safely. He spoke to the Express-News in 2001 about the experience of bailing out.

“I saw this big black hole,” Jones said. “I was scared, there's no doubt about that.”

Later, Jones was assigned as commander of a bombardment group in North Africa. He was shot down over Bizerte, Tunisia and spent two and a half years in the Stalag Luft III prison camp in Germany. His fellow prisoners selected him to be part of the “escape committee” which, according to his Air Force biography, reviewed escape plans and directed escape attempts. The prisoners' actions formed the basis for the classic film, “The Great Escape.” He was liberated from the camp in April 1945.

After the war, Jones had various assignments in air and space research and development, including flying supersonic jets.

In 1967, he was appointed commander of the Air Force Eastern Test Range at Cape Canaveral and remained in that position for most of the Apollo moon missions.

He retired in Florida in 1973. Since 1999, he made his home in San Antonio and in Tucson.

From time to time, members of Doolittle's Raiders held reunions at Karam's Mexican Dining Room, a San Antonio landmark until it closed earlier this year. It devoted an entire wall to Doolittle and his fellow fighters.

According to Air Force News, nine of the 80 members of Doolittle's Raiders are left.

Maj. Gen. David M. Jones: Trained to be a pilot at Kelly Field.

Born: Dec. 18, 1913, in Marshfield, Ore.

Died: Nov. 25, 2008, in Tucson, Ariz.

Military: U.S. Army, Army Air Corps, Air Force, 1936 -1973

Preceded by: His first wife, Anita Maddox Jones

Survived by: His wife, Janna-Neen Jones; daughter Jere Jean Yeager, and her husband Dennis, of San Antonio; two sons, David M. Jones Jr. and his wife Joni, of Fort Myers, Fla., and James M. Jones and his wife, Julie, of Tehachapi, Calif.; as well as 7 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

Services: Interment will take place at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date.

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Master Sgt. Ed Horton died last week from injuries he received in a traffic accident, with Davey Jones gone, now there are only nine left.

Gos rest the souls of those brave, Brave men. And give their families strength to see them through these hard times.
Salute Salute

Tim

Forum: Air Force Life

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