General David Jones was appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this date in 1978. Born in South Dakota, he was raised in Minot, where a winter storm helped him choose his life’s path. It was during the late 1930s when Army Air Corps planes on their way to Alaska made an emergency landing in Minot because of a snowstorm. David went with a group of students to talk with the pilots and observe the planes. The instruments and controls were impressive, but when Jones sat in a pilots’ seat, destiny called.
Jones always said growing up in North Dakota was one of the best things that ever happened to him. He came of age during the depression and learned the value of work by delivering papers, shoveling snow, and catching gophers, for which the township paid a bounty of five cents each.
World War II was looming when David graduated from high school. Still intent on flying for the Army Air Corps, he went to UND where he became part of the ROTC program. The following year, he transferred to Minot State, and after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Air Corps and received his wings in less than a year. He was commissioned a second lieutenant, but was disappointed when his skill led not to action, but to an assignment as a flight instructor.
Jones eventually saw action in WWII, but it was in Korea that he distinguished himself. There, he took command of the 19th Bomb Squadron, which was dubbed “Jones’ Bridge Busters.” By 1971, he was a 4-star general commanding the Air Force in Europe. Seven years later, President Jimmy Carter appointed him chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s highest ranking military officer. When President Reagan was elected, he re-appointed Jones to the position.
Through it all, Jones kept his home in ND. “No other place has really felt like home,” he said. “My family roots grow deep in the state, and the values and attitudes that I live by were formed during my youth spent among the rugged, hard working, unpretentious people of that state.”
General David C. Jones passed away in Potomac Falls, Virginia in 2013 at the age of 92.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm
Source:
Irving Wallace, North Dakota Horizons, as entered into the U.S. Congressional Record on Legislative day of March 14, 1983.
