David C. Jones | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1978 | |
| Born | (1921-07-09)July 9, 1921 Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Died | August 10, 2013(2013-08-10) (aged 92) Potomac Falls, Virginia, U.S. |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1943–1982 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
David Charles Jones (July 9, 1921 – August 10, 2013) was aUnited States Air Forcegeneral and the ninthchairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[1][2] In this capacity, Jones served as the highest-ranking uniformed officer of theUnited States Armed Forces.[3] He previously served as the ninthChief of Staff of the United States Air Force and fifteenth commander of theUnited States Air Forces in Europe.[4][5]
Jones is best known for his efforts to cement the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal military advisor to thePresident, as opposed to being a "first among equals" of theJoint Chiefs of Staff.[6][7] Following his retirement from active duty in 1982, he continued to emphasize the importance of such reform, which contributed to the passage ofGoldwater-Nichols Act.[6][7]
Born inAberdeen, South Dakota, and raised inMinot, North Dakota, Jones graduated fromMinot High School and attended both theUniversity of North Dakota inGrand Forks andMinot State Teacher's College. While attending college, he received his private pilot license from theCivilian Pilot Training Program. In April 1942, he left college to join theUnited States Army Air Forces.[7]
In February 1943, Jones graduated fromRoswell Army Airfield flight school inNew Mexico, received hispilot wings, and was commissioned asecond lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces. After serving as a flying instructor in New Mexico,Arizona andTexas, Jones was assigned to the 3rd Emergency Rescue Squadron of the Fifth Air Force in Japan in 1945. He began as a unit pilot, flyingCatalina flying boats, and rose to command the squadron.
From 1948 to 1949 Jones was a unit instructor and then assistant operations and training officer with the 2236th Air Force Reserve Training Center,Godman Field, Kentucky. Also during this period, he attended specialized professional military training courses.
Jones was assigned to the19th Bombardment Squadron atMarch AFB,California, in January 1950. During his years with the 19th, he rose to aircraft commander, then operations officer and finally commander of the squadron. He flew more than 300 hours on combat missions overNorth Korea, when the squadron was one of the first bombardment units committed to the Korean War. In May 1953 he transitioned from bombers to tankers, taking command of the22nd Air Refueling Squadron at March. Promoted tolieutenant colonel in June 1953, he remained at March but returned to bombers the following year as commander of the33rd Bombardment Squadron.[8]
Jones next served atHeadquarters Strategic Air Command (SAC),Offutt AFB,Nebraska, during SAC's build-up period. He was assigned initially in September 1954 as an operations planner in the bomber mission branch and remained there until January 1955, when GeneralCurtis LeMay selected him as his aide. Promoted tocolonel in April 1957, Jones became director of materiel and later deputy commander for maintenance of SAC's93rd Bombardment Wing atCastle AFB, California.
Jones was a 1960 graduate of theNational War College. Following that, Jones was assigned to the Air Staff's operations directorate for four years. As chief of the manned systems branch, he worked on theB-70 bomber project. He then served as deputy chief and chief of the Strategic Division. AfterF-100 andF-4 training, Jones assumed command of the33rd Tactical Fighter Wing,Eglin AFB,Florida, at its activation in 1965 and bought it to operational status.
Jones then served in key staff assignments withUnited States Air Forces in Europe. He received his second star in November 1967. In February 1969 Jones was assigned to Headquarters Seventh Air Force,Tan Son Nhut Airfield,Vietnam, as deputy chief of staff for operations and became vice commander in June. Promoted tolieutenant general, he returned to SAC in August 1969 as commander of theSecond Air Force, headquartered atBarksdale AFB,Louisiana.
In April 1971, Jones returned to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) as vice commander in chief. He assumed command of USAFE and theFourth Allied Tactical Air Force in August and was promoted togeneral in September. In hisNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) capacity as commander of the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, Jones directed an international planning team that integrated central region air forces into a more cohesive organization. Key to that effort was his creation of a small operational and planning headquarters,Allied Air Force, Central Europe.
Capping a career that had included operational and command positions in bomber, tanker, training and tactical fighter units as well as headquarters staff positions, General Jones was nominated by PresidentRichard Nixon as the ninthChief of Staff of The United States Air Force in July 1974, following the appointment of General George S. Brown as the eight Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chief of Staff of The United States Air Force, General Jones responsible for administering, training and equipping all of the airmen employing in the world's largest Air Force.[4] During his tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff General Jones also advocated for the development of high-technology of future weapons systems and also reorganized the Air Force command structure.[3] He supported modernization with such systems as theF-15,F-16, theA–10, and theE–3A.
General Jones emphasized the needs of modernized the Air Force following the end of the Vietnam War and in order to stop the Soviet armored thrust. As a result, the Fairchild A-10 Warthog aircraft was built to become the primary survivable tank killer. That program was followed by theGeneral Dynamics EF-111 to counter Soviet air mobile defenses, along with theBoeing E-3 Sentry AWACS, which served to provide picture and detail of the airborne battlefield.[9] Much of the modernization program was focused on the European area, where the United States developed initiatives in response toDepartment of Defense and congressional interest for an increase in the capability of NATO.[3][9]
During his tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff General Jones also oversaw the improvements in the working relationship between the Air Force, Army and Navy. General Jones also developed an emerging concepts of air and ground integration that would eventually result in the Air-Land Battle Doctrine.[9] The concepts and the battle doctrine was developed in order to oppose the growing Soviet conventional threat within the Central Europe.[9] In May 1975 following a cable fromUnited States Embassy in Jakarta,Indonesia which informed an SOS and Mayday signals from a U.S. merchant vesselSSMayaguez that has been attacked and seized byKhmer Rouge militia following theirtook control of Cambodian Capital Phnom Penh; this event lead to a military crisis known as theMayaguez incident.[10] During the incident, General Jones served as the acting Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff due to the fact that Chairman Gen. George S. Brown was in Europe for a NATO Summit at that time of the Mayaguez Incident.[10] General Jones advised PresidentGerald Ford, Secretary of DefenseJames Schlesinger and theNational Security Council on a range of military options, including the plan for military operations to rescue the crew of SSMayaguez. The United States initially launch a rescue operation, by deploying U.S. Marines to recaptured the SSMayaguez and also attacked the island of Koh Tang, on which it was believed the crew of the SSMayaguez was held imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge.[10] The crew of the SSMayaguez was finally rescued, however General Jones saw a complex communication and relationship between the military and the civilian officials during theMayaguez Incident. TheMayaguez crisis was the one that eventually convinced General Jones of the need for change within the military and civilian relationship, especially during a military crisis and wartime situation.[10] This became a crucial factor in the enactment of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act.[10] On May 31, 1978, Jones was awarded theOrder of the Sword, the Air Force enlisted force's highest honor for officer leadership.[9]
General David C. Jones was nominated by PresidentJimmy Carter to becomeChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 21 June 1978, replacing GeneralGeorge S. Brown, who retired due to ill health.[3] General Jones became the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was not a graduate from either a college or service academy.[6][3] General Jones became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a period of increasing of the Soviet military arsenal and the emerging ofMuslim militias within thePersian Gulf region that was deemed as a threat within the Western world nations.[3] General Jones also oversaw the increased funding for defense in response to the Soviet threat and due to the continuing Joint Chiefs of Staff advocacy of strategic force modernization.[6][3]
Jones accompanied PresidentJimmy Carter toVienna, Austria, in June 1979 for the final stage of theStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty II negotiations with theUSSR. When the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan raised fears that Soviet forces there might move into neighboring Iran, where an anti-Western militantIslamic regime had taken power in early 1979, Carter created a rapid deployment force forSouthwest Asia to counter any such attempt in the region. Subsequently, at the direction of the secretary of defense, Jones oversaw planning for the transformation of theRapid Defense Force into a regional unified command. The planning for what in 1983 became theUnited States Central Command (USCENTCOM) was essentially completed during his chairmanship. Jones also oversaw the planning for the rescue of theU.S. embassy personnel taken hostage in November 1979 by followers of the Iranian leaderAyatollah Khomeini, and he survived the criticism forthat rescue mission's failure.
During his second term as chairman, Jones worked to make the chairman, rather than the corporate JCS, the principal military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense, arguing that such a change of theNational Security Act would improve the quality and timeliness of military advice and the combined readiness and effectiveness of the nation's combat forces. Jones continued his efforts toward that goal after his retirement as chairman of the JCS and saw it come to fruition with the passage of theGoldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act in 1986.
Jones continued to serve asChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first years ofRonald Reagan's Presidency in 1981.[6] He retired from active-duty within theUnited States Air Force after his second term period as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished on June 18, 1982.[3] In 1989 military history bookFour Stars: The Inside Story of The Forty-Year Battle Between The Joint Chiefs of Staff and America's Civilian Leaders, historianMark Perry wrote that General David C. Jones had earned a reputation as "a good service manager" who "welcomed change" during his tenure as bothU.S. Air Force Chief of Staff andChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[11][6]
Jones was awarded anhonorary doctorate of humane letters degree from theUniversity of Nebraska Omaha in 1974, an honorary doctorate of laws degree fromLouisiana Tech University in 1975, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree fromMinot State College in 1979. Jones received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council memberRoger Staubach in 1979.[12][13][14] Jones was the final Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be decorated for service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
Jones was a member of theAir Force Association, the Falcon Foundation, theCouncil on Foreign Relations, theAlfalfa Club, theBohemian Club and theFamily.[15]
In 1942, he married Lois Tarbell (1921–2009). They had three children, two daughters Susan and Kathy; and a son, David Curtis.[16]
Jones died August 10, 2013, at a military retirement community inPotomac Falls, Virginia at age 92. He hadParkinson's disease.[11] Jones was buried inArlington National Cemetery on October 25, 2013.[17]
Source:[18]
| Insignia | Rank | Date |
|---|---|---|
 | Second Lieutenant | February 6, 1943 |
 | First Lieutenant | February 28, 1944 (permanent on February 6, 1946) |
 | Captain | April 11, 1946 (permanent on October 25, 1948) |
 | Major | February 5, 1951 (permanent on January 23, 1952) |
 | Lieutenant Colonel | June 1, 1953 (permanent on July 1, 1959) |
 | Colonel | April 23, 1957 (permanent on December 22, 1960) |
 | Brigadier General | December 1, 1965 (permanent on February 10, 1966) |
 | Major General | November 1, 1967 (permanent on January 24, 1969) |
 | Lieutenant General | August 1, 1969 |
 | General | September 1, 1971 |
 | US Air Force Command Pilot Badge |
 | Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge |
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander of The United States Air Forces Europe 1971 – 1974 | Succeeded by Gen.John W. Vogt Jr. |
| Preceded by Gen.George S. Brown | Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force July 1, 1974 – June 20, 1978 | Succeeded by Gen.Lew Allen Jr. |
| Preceded by Gen.George S. Brown | Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff June 21, 1978 – June 18, 1982 | Succeeded by |
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