By Bob Holeman

I felt some sadness when we got the call that Rev. C.W. “Jack” Jones had passed away after a lifetime of service to his country, his Lord and his community of Winn.  I also felt some pride in just having known him.  He was pushing 99 and a member of what newsman Tom Brokaw termed “The Greatest Generation.”

Jack didn’t consider himself a hero but he was.  So were the 33 other World War II veterans that I had the privilege to interview a dozen years ago.  They believed they were just responding to their call to service for their country, whether that was in Europe, Northern Africa, the Pacific Theater or here in the United States.  Many who were called gave their lives for their country and didn’t return.  These 34 did.  Jack was the last and now he’s gone.

The Greatest Generation.  Think about it.  The United States with its allies fought a war on two fronts (Europe and the Pacific) and won.  This took a full commitment for our entire nation for as men and women were pulled out of the workplace and into the military, those remaining on the home front had to shift into the workplace to supply a ravenous war machine.  Most of those were women, as we think of the iconic “Rosie the Riveter.” 

Then there were the housewives and families, living on produce from their Victory Gardens and on tightly rationed supplies because so much had to be shipped overseas to feed the fighting men.  Those who stayed behind, supporting the war effort in this way, were also heroes and, like veterans I mentioned above, never saw themselves as such.  I’d suggest to you that we as a nation don’t have the backbone to repeat that today.

Let’s talk about Jack.  His start might have been typical of many families in the South or throughout mid-America.  He was one of eight sons of a carpenter who farmed his 40 acres with two horses, raising corn, cotton, peas and sugar cane.  Meat came from the cows, hogs and chickens they raised.  Folks did what they had to for their families.  Rufus Jones received $20 a month from the state for serving as a fire warden, responding with a fire rake and a flap when the fire tower spotted a blaze in the nearby woods.

Graduated from Atlanta High School in 1942 at age 17 (there were only 11 grades back then), Jack went to work at Western Auto.  He registered for the draft when he turned 18.  He thought he’d go into the Army like four of his brothers but he was sent to the Navy instead.  Assigned to the famed aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the country boy from Winnfield saw his first battle action in the Marshall Islands in what was termed “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” due to the many Japanese planes that were shot down.

Jack remained aboard the Enterprise as the war progressed towards the islands of Japan and was on deck when the carrier was off the shores of Okinawa on May 14, 1945. After earlier “near misses” by kamikaze planes, that day one crashed onto the deck, sliding into the forward elevator and exploding, sending the massive elevator more than 400 feet skywards.  Damage was so extensive that repairs in Washington state were not complete until war’s end.

Returning home after the war, Jack worked for a time with Milam’s before getting on with the U.S. Postal Service where he worked 26 years.  He had described himself as “raised in a church” and found a place there, serving in several positions before surrendering to the ministry and pastoring at churches and filling pulpits for 50 years.

When I first interviewed this soft-spoken gentleman in 2012, I brought a lunch from Brenda’s Chicken.  His wife Moeice made tea.  So much did we enjoy the exchange around their kitchen table that several times through these years, I’d show up at their doorstep, chicken in hand.  More recently, I brought my Tennessee grandson Silas for the opportunity “to meet a genuine World War II veteran.”  On Labor Day weekend, I’d hoped to bring my Texas grandsons by for a visit but he wasn’t feeling well that day so we didn’t.

This opportunity to say “Thanks” here in Winn is gone.  I know no others than Jack.  Of the 3.5 million who served, it’s estimated that only 70,000 are still with us today.  They were the Greatest Generation.

Thanks, Jack