Kenneth L. Jones - American Ex-Prisoner of War

Last Name: JONES	First Name Middle Initial: KENNETH L		Nick Name: KEN
Street: 1012 GOODWIN DR	City & State: PLANO, TX		E-Mail: Katysammie@aol.com
Zip: 75023	Phone: 972 424 2147		Spouse: Ora Lee O'Brien Jones
Conflict: WW11	Service Branch: Army Air Corps		Unit: 91st Bomb Group
Theater: ETO	Where Captured: Gelsenkirchen Germany		Date Captured: 08/12/43
Camps Held In: Stalag 6G, Dulag Luft and Stalag 17B.			How Long Interned: 658 days
Liberated / repatriated:	Date Liberated: 05/31/45		Age at Capture: 20
Medals Received: Silver Star Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Meritorious Service Medal w/1OLC, Air Medal w/1SLC, Army Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Purple Heart w/2OLC, AF Presidential Unit Citation, AF Outstanding Unit Award, AF Good Conduct Medal w/4OLC, Army Good Conduct Medal 2/6BL, American Campaign Medal, EAME, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation, Germany National Defense Service Medal w/1BS, Korean Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal 2/1BS, United Nations Medal, Prisoner of War Medal
Military Job: Ball Turrent Gunner		Company: Stayed in Military (Air Force)
Occupation after War: Veterans Service Officer, Collin County, TX

Bio:

Kenneth Lee Jones
He was born in Coxton Kentucky on 4/19/1923 and he died 12/10/1998. He was the only child of John and Inez Jones but was raised by his paternal grandparents after his mothers death, when he was 10.

He is survived by his Wife Ora Lee O'Brien Jones, they married on 7/12/57 in a small town outside Fairbanks Alaska. He has 2 children, Lisa Jones Mowry born 10/23/59, she lives in Austin Texas and Cecilia Jones born 5/21/61 she lives in Plano Texas.

Kenneth joined the Army Air Corps (predecessor to the Air Force) on July 4, 1942. He completed basic training at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indiana and was eventually sent to Bassingborne England as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber with the 91st Bomb Group. He retired on April 1, 1975 after 33 years of service. He was the last enlisted World War II Prisoner of War, with continuous service, to retire from the USAF.

He flew 17 missions before his plane was involved in a midair collision with another B-17 which resulted in his capture on August 12, 1943. He has been shot 7 times, on 3 different occasions, as well as sustaining a broken back in the plane crash. He was held at Stalag 6G, Dulag Luft and Stalag 17B. He went down over Gelsenkirchen Germany in the Ruhr Valley. He made 2 unsuccessful escape attempts from Stalag 6G. The first was unsuccessful because he was headed in the wrong direction, towards Berlin and the second because he reached the Rhine River and could not swim, he was also on crutches at the time. After these 2 attempts he was sent for 2 weeks of interrogation to Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp, he was then sent to Stalag 17B in Kerns Austria. He was a SSGT at the time of his capture. He was a Prisoner of war from August 12, 1943 to May 31,1945 when he was liberated by the 3rd Army and taken to France and then home. He promptly re-enlisted.

He is also a Veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam conflict. He retired as a Chief Master Sgt., an E-9. He has a Bachelor of Creative Arts degree from Dallas Baptist College in 1978. In a newspaper article written about him in the Plano paper it in 1986 he was asked who the 4 people he would most like to meet were. He listed "my great, great, great, great grandfather, Titus Marshon; he was in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and General Patton. The article also asked if he could change places for 1 day with anyone who would it be and he replied "no one." He just liked being himself.

Past organizations that he belonged to include the American Legion Post 321, the Plano VFW, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Captain in the Texas State Guard, Adjutant in Chapter 91 of Plano DAV, Commander of the North Central Texas Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, Director of Claims for American Ex-POW's, National Service Office for American Ex-POW's and cochairman of the Ex-POW's Advisory Committee for the State of Texas.
The following is a list of the majority of assignments but does not include all; Jefferson Barracks in Mississippi, Harlingen Texas, Salt Lake City Utah, Boise Idaho, Alamogordo New Mexico, Selina Kansas, Topeka Kansas, Tulsa Oklahoma, West Palm Beach Florida, San Antonio Texas, Waco Texas, Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Fairbanks Alaska and Overseas he was stationed in Cuba, Georgetown British Columbia, Earkar South Africa, French Morocco, Bassingborne England, Korea, Manila Philippines, Vietnam and West Berlin Germany.