In memory of 1LT Neal S. Jones (February 8, 1924 - March 27, 1945)

Honoring the history, photographs, and personal stories of a life given in service.

The Early Years

1924-02-08 - Neal Born

Neal Seldin Jones was born while the family still lived in San Luis Obispo.  When Neal was born, older sister Betty Ann was just over 4 years old, and older brother Robert had just turned 2 years old three days prior.

1929-05-09  - Kindergarten Music Concert - Neal on the tambourine

Fast forward to a kindergarten music concert in Los Gatos, and 5 year old Neal played the tambourine (see last paragraph).  Also note the aviation reference in the second to last paragraph.

1936-12-25 - Grammar School Christmas Play

12 year old Neal was among the 7th and 8th graders in the cast of "The Enchanted Christmas Tree" at the grammar school.  His name appears in the first paragraph.

1939-04-07 - Neal plays the accordion

The apparently musically-oriented, 15 year old Neal played an accordion solo at this gathering!  Younger sister Miss Geraldine played a violin solo.  We know from articles on the Family page that their mother was a singer.

1939-06 - Neal's Freshman year - Los Gatos High School 1939 Wildcat Yearbook

The Los Gatos Library didn't have a copy of the 1939 yearbook, but I found one on eBay.  Some photos and activities Neal participated in his freshman year are below - captions below the photos provide a description.

1939-12-01 - Annual meeting of Boy Scouts

In December of Neal's sophomore year of high school, he attended a Boy Scout gathering with "Scout demonstrations and instrumental selections for the entertainment program."   His name appears in the last paragraph.

1940-05-10 - High School Relay Race

Article about an annual relay race: a 4 mile relay run among the high school classes, "the 15th year that the Saratoga relay has been run".  Neal participated with the sophomore class - his name in the right column, second to last paragraph (ignoring the unrelated story about Adult Classes).

1940-06 - Neal's Sophomore year - Los Gatos High School 1940 Wildcat Yearbook

Photos and activities that Neal participated in his sophomore  year are below - this was Robert's senior year.  Captions below the photos provide a description.

1940-07-26 - Picnic Party

Neal and sister Geraldine were present at the Jones home for a "merry picnic and swimming party".  Perhaps that means the home had a swimming pool? 

1940-08-16 - Neal helps run children's games

On the day the town's Pageant Bowl was dedicated (see also this date on the Family page), this article was also on the front page, highlighting activities for the "Trail Days" the coming weekend.  Neal's name is in the second to last paragraph, he assisted with running the children's games (including marbles - bring your own marbles!).

1940-09-27 - Junior Play

Neal was a cast member in the Junior Play; his name appears at the end of the first paragraph.

1940-11-08 - More coverage of Junior Play

Neal's name appears in the middle of the right column.

1941-01-31 - Cousin Ralph McGrady's Birthday

A few days before Neal's 17th birthday, he was a guest at his cousin Ralph's 18th birthday.

1941-02-07 - Boy Scouts Spend Weekend at Pinecrest

Just before Neal's 17th birthday, he spent the weekend with other boy scouts at his uncle's cabin, "skiing, ice-skating, and tobagganing".

1941-06 - Neal's Junior year - Los Gatos High School 1941 Wildcat Yearbook

Photo of Neal from his junior year, below.  I'm not sure why there were no pictures of him in sports or activities this year - I might go back to double check I didn't miss anything.

The War Years

1942-01-16 - Teachers, Students Organize to Act in Event Of Air Raid

This is the first article after Pearl Harbor.  Neal was a member of the "fire patrol", third paragraph down.  I made it a larger newspaper clipping to show the interesting "Know America's Planes" section above the article.

1942-06-05 - Los Gatos High School Graduation on June 12

Neal's high school graduation was on June 12, 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor.

1942-06 - Neal's Senior year - Los Gatos High School 1942 Wildcat Yearbook

Photos and activities Neal participated in his senior year are below - captions below the photos provide a description.

1942-07-24 - Draft Order Numbers

Draft numbers, Neal's name is in the center column close to the bottom.

1942-09-25 - Neal enters University of California

Neal was one of eleven Los Gatos High School 1942 grads to enter the University of California.  From the July 10, 1942 article on the Robert page we know that Neal attended summer school at the University of California in summer 1942.

Register of the University of California 1942-43

I found this documentation from the University of California where Neal is listed at the very bottom, including the address where he lived while a student.

1942-12-11 - Neal Enlists in U.S. Army

After one semester of college, Neal enlisted.  In the second to last paragraph, it shows Neal enlisted in the U.S. Army, along with cousin Ralph McGrady.

1943-04-16 - Neal Aviation Cadet at University of Montana

This same article appears on Robert's page, but I included it here because it mentions that Neal is an aviation cadet at the University of Montana.  I reached out to the library at registrar at the University of Montana to see if they had any documentation of Neal's time there, but they were unable to locate any.  Possibly because he wasn't there very long - I'm not sure how long - as the next article indicates.

1943-07-09 - Neal transfers from University of Montana to Santa Ana Army air base

In July 1943, it was reported that Neal transferred to Santa Ana Army air base.  I reached out to the Costa Mesa Historical Society for help with locating any records or photos of Neal from his time at S.A.A.A.B, but so far nothing has been found.

1943-07-23 - Neal classified as pilot, pre-flight training

Neal was classified as a pilot and taking pre-flight training at Santa Ana Army air base.

1943-10-22 - Cadet Neal Jones Tells How First Solo Feels

This is one of the more interesting articles, because it's a rare example of hearing from Neal in his own words as he described his first solo (flying without an instructor).

1943-10-29 - Mrs. Jones and sister Geraldine visit Neal in LA

One week after the first solo article above, this article mentions that Mrs. Jones and sister Geraldine visited with Neal in Los Angeles.  Less than one week after this article was published, Robert died in Alaska.

1943-12-31 Neal home for Christmas

In what must have been a somber and difficult first Christmas without Robert, less than two months after his death, Neal was able to come home on leave for Christmas .  Also, it happens that this article was published 10 years to they day before Mrs. Jones died.

1944-02-08 - Neal completes basic and now at Douglas, Arizona

This article was published on Neal's 20th birthday.  It mentions he completed basic flight training at Ontario, which meant he was at Cal-Aero Academy, and is now at Douglas, Arizona.

1944-02 - Slipstream - the Class Book of Class 44-D at Cal-Aero Academy

Looking for the Class Books from Cal-Aero Academy, I found one that had been sold on eBay.  Looking through the listings photos, I lucked out on the page for Squadron Eight, Class 44-D.  The text on that page - in the photo below, describes Neal's first solo:

"They call us the Squadron of Firsters.  And not without reason.  For example, there was Neal "Coming Mother" Jones who was the first man to wave goodbye to his instructor, Mr. Hall, and take-off for 44-D's first supervised solo."

1944-04-21 - Neal Jones Graduates as Army Pilot

Mr. and Mrs. Jones were able to travel to Douglas, Arizona, to see Neal pin on his wings on April 15, 1944, as a member of Class 44-D.

1944-04  - Class 44-D Class Book from Douglas Army Air Field, Douglas, Arizona

Amazingly, I was also able to find the Class 44-D Class Book from Douglas Army Air Field on a sold eBay listing as well - and lucked out that one of the photos shows Neal!  At least, I think it does.  The caption shows "A/C [Aviation Cadet] F. Jones".  I think the "F" must be a typo, because I think the photo looks a lot like him.  If you click to the right to view the second picture, you'll see that this page shows the eight Aviation Cadets on the Cadet Honor Committee.

1944-10-27 - LT. Neal Jones in New Guinea

Six months later, Neal, now overseas, wrote to his parents thanking them for sending vegetable seeds.  He compared parts of Australia to San Francisco and Los Gatos.

1945-02-23 - LT. Neal Jones is Awarded Air Medal

Neal earned the first of his two Air Medals, detailed below.   In in this article that he went overseas in May, 1943, but I think it meant 1944.

1945-03-16 - LT. Neal Jones Took Part At Corregidor

This March 1945 article - published 11 days before the accident that claimed his life - details how Neal participated in the Battle of Corregidor (1945).   The article ends with a comma, but it's a typo, I confirmed the article doesn't continue.

Film footage from Corregidor, 16 Feb 1945

Below is some footage from the Battle of Corregidor (1945).  To be clear, Neal is not in this footage (well, that we know of).  Seeing the planes though, we can imagine that he or his brothers in arms  were piloting them.   Consider Neal, flying at 500 feet above the drop zone with paratroopers in the back of his aircraft - here's a summary of the combat flight operations:

"The drop at Corregidor began at 8:30 AM on February 16, 1945. In two lifts, 82 C-47’s of the 54th Troop Carrier Wing carried 2,050 men of the 503rd from Mindoro. The initial drops were made from an altitude of 650 feet, but this was soon reduced to 500 feet or less to minimize drift. The RCT included two battalions of the 503rd Parachute Infantry and its headquarters, engineer and service companies, and field artillery batteries of 75 mm howitzers from the 462nd Parachute Field Artillery. The troops faced an estimated enemy defense of 850 (later proved to be over 5,000) in heavily fortified positions. The paratroopers completely surprised the defenders and speedily seized their first objective. By the end of February 16, they were firmly established on Topside, while the amphibious force was in control of Malinta Hill, the dominating terrain in the beachhead area."  From https://www.asomf.org/the-battle-of-corregidor/ .  More info on the Battle of Corregidor here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corregidor_(1945)

To start where the paratrooper operation begins, start at the 0.58 mark.

Neal's Accident

1945-03-27 - The Crash

39th Troop Carrier Squadron History from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

I reached out to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, who provided some declassified unit history information on the 39th Troop Carrier Squadron.  It contained a description of Neal's accident in the squadron history for March 1945:

"A very tragic accident occurred on the 27th of th emonth and claimed the life of one of our pilots, Lieutenant Neal S. Jones.  He was Assistant Operations Officer of the squadron.  Piloting a P-47, he had just taken off from Mangaldan strip when the engine failed causing the plane to crash.  The pilot was killed instantly.  His death was a great shock to everyone as the officer was very well liked by all who knew him.  His intelligence, ability and cheerful comradeship will be sincerely missed, and every man will cherish the memory of his friendship.  An impressive funeral service was held for him at Santa Barbara Cemetery on the 29th of March."

Neal's AIr Medals

Neal's first Air Medal was described in the Feb 23, 1945 newspaper article above (it was awarded December 28, 1944).   His second Air Medal was awarded posthumously August 2, 1945, a few days before WWII came to an end.

Neal's Flight Records

Flight records for Word War II pilots are available at the National Archives for in person research.  Not being able to travel there, I hired a researcher to locate and digitize Robert and Neal's flight records.  I hope to provide more analysis here later, but in short, it shows Neal's total pilot hours were about 1,045 hours.

1945-04-27 - Report of Neal's Death

Exactly one month after Neal's death, it was reported in the Los Gatos Times.  It says Mr. and Mrs. Jones received the telgram on April 25th.

1945-04-29 - Church Service

Program from the First Presbyterian Church service on April 29, 1945 - at the bottom of page 2.  Note the misspelling of Neal's middle initial as "C" instead of "S".  

"Lieut. Neal C. Jones, beloved son of Mr. and Mrs. William Jones of this church, has been reported killed in the Philippines on March 27.  The congregation unites in loving sympathy with those bereaved."

1945-05-04 - Neal's Photo in the paper

One week later, Neal's photo was printed on the front page of the newspaper.

1948-12 - Place Funeral Home Records

After temporary burial in Alaska and the Phillipines, Robert's and Neal's remains were repatriated to California after the war.  See the December 3, 1948 newspaper article on the Family page.

The Los Gatos Library holds the Place Funeral Home Records, and this volume from 1911 to 1960 includes Neal's entry.  On the second to last row of the page, it lists Neal (the same page as Robert's entry - his is in the middle of the page).  My best interpretation of the handwriting:

Name: "Jones, LT. Neal S." (with the "1st" inserted later).  Date of death, "March 27, 1945".  Place of Death, "Phillipines". Occupation, "Pilot U.S. Army".   Age, "21".   On the opposing page it lists cause of death, "Killed in action".   Disposition of remains, "Returned on Transport Dalton Victory to G.G. (Golden Gate), Dec. 1948.  Interment Golden Gate Nat'l Cemetery, San Bruno".

1949-01-12 - Robert and Neal laid to rest in Golden Gate National Cemetery

Robert and Neal's remains were repatriated in December, 1948.  (See the Dec 3, 1948 article on the Family page for more information.)  Robert and Neal were laid to rest, side by side, in Golden Gate National Cemetery on the same day, January 12, 1949.  Robert is in Section C, Grave 3, and Neal is in Section C, Grave 2.  I wasn't able to find any information about the funeral service, but I imagine family was in attendence.

Photo above courtesy of the Veterans Legacy Memorial for Neal:

https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/NEALSJONES/5BDEBC0

Find A Grave memorial for Neal:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3594035/neal_selden-jones

I have "suggested edits" to the Find A Grave site to properly associate the Jones siblings with their parents on that website.