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Major Luther A. Jones
Airplane Commander

Mr. Jones was born in Epps, La. on Dec. 7, 1917 to parents Luther A Jones, Sr. and Della Virginia Moore Jones, and passed away on Feb. 26 at North Monroe Medical Center.

Mr. Jones is survived by three sons, Charles Jones of Mar tinez, Georgia; Ronald Jones of Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Barry Jones of Arlington, Texas; and three grandchildren, Alexis Jones, Michael Jones and Matthew Jones. He is also sur vived by his loving "Monroe family", which includes his de voted niece and caregiver, Pam Hill and her husband Fred; great niece, Kim Hill DeWitt, whom he loved to hear sing, and husband Ron; great nephew, Jeff Hill and wife Sha; and great nephew, Stevie Hill and wife Kelly. He is also survived by several other nieces and nephews, many oth er great nieces and nephews and great great nieces and nephews, as well as his long time friend and faithful fishing companion, George Hayes.

Mr. Jones served his country during World War II as a B29 pilot stationed on Guam flying for the 39th Bomb Group, 314th Bomb Wing with the 20th Air Force. He was commander of the Superfortress "City of Monroe". In all he flew more than 20 missions and the "City of Monroe" was one of several B29's that flew cover over To kyo when the Japanese signed surrender papers on the Battle ship Missouri in September of 1945.

During his distinguished flying career he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with one Oak Cluster, the Air Medal with two Oak Clusters, American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with the Bronze Service Star for the Eastern Mandate Campaign the, Distinguished Unit Citation with Oak Cluster and had. By the end of his military service he had attained the rank of Lt. Colonel.

Mr. Jones graduated from Ouachita Parish High School, attended Northeast Junior Col lege in Monroe and graduated from Louisiana Tech in Ruston. He obtained his master's de gree from LSU in Baton Rouge. After obtaining his education he taught high school in Lake Charles until his retirement, at which time he moved back to Monroe.

He was a member of the Aviation and Military Museum of Louuisiana. He was their "resident World War II expert" and he spent many happy hours there answering questions of the visitors. Curator, Jerry Smith and his staff always ap preciated his input and made him feel so welcome.

Excerpts above are from the obituary of Luther A. Jones that appeared on thenewstar.com, published 1 March 2005.
Thanks to David Beauvais, Aviation and Military Museum, for notifying us of Luther's passing.

Crew 59 Main Page
62nd Squadron Crew Index
Source: Obituary appearing in the thenewsstar.com