In the amazing book, Nine Days In May (Warren Wilkins), he begins the section involving the 3-12 Infantry by briefly covering the action of May 1st, 1967.
On that morning, Alpha Company was hit at their night defensive position by a large NVA force. The perimeter held, the NVA was repulsed, and Alpha was eventually joined by Bravo Company later that day. Three Alpha Company men were killed in action, and an additional 16 wounded, including “Captain Jones” the Alpha Company commander.
In his book, Wilkins describes Captain Jones in very little detail, most likely because he couldn’t find anything readily available during his research for the book. The Daily Journals, AARs and other formal reports all fail to fully identify Captain Jones. With no first name, middle initial, home state, college or university affiliation etc, it’s pretty difficult to find someone with the last name Jones. I’ve always been bugged by it, and have been keeping my eye out for some scrap of detail that might unlock the mystery of “Captain Jones”.
Wilkins mentions him several times between pages 173 and 175 in his book, but it does little to help us understand who he really was. Here are two examples.
“Concerned, the A Company CO that morning, a sharp African American captain named Jones…”
He adds in later “….Captain Jones, still suffering from the head wound he suffered during the battle, was evacuated from the field”
Purple Heart orders
A few months ago, I retrieved a batch of Purple Heart orders from the National Archives. I went through each one and picked out the men from the 3-12, and added them to a spreadsheet to help me keep track. Somehow, I missed one. Today I went back and was reviewing those orders, and found this entry on General Order 1036.
I was dumfounded. How had I missed that? I quickly started searching, using Ancestry and Find A Grave. I searched within a three year span in either direction of 1938, which felt like a solid middle ground for the average age of a Captain in 1967.
Ancestry wasn’t much help. Too many Richard A Jones within that search area. But I had much better luck on Find A Grave. Still 68 records to sift through, I filtered it out for to only see those marked as veterans. Down to 18, I began scrolling through the list. And there, fourth from the bottom, was the memorial for a man named MAJ Richard Allen Jones Jr. A small portrait of a middle aged African American man in a suit jacket and tie was visible next to his name.
I opened his profile and my search was over. His headstone, located at the Eatonville Memorial Gardens in Eatonville, Florida is inscribed with his name, and then MAJ US ARMY VIETNAM. Using this info, I went back to ancestry and found his Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File. Major Richard Allen Jones Jr served from May 13th, 1961 to September 28th, 1977. At some point after he left Alpha Company, he was promoted to Major, and he remained a Major for the rest of his Army career.
Major Richard Allen Jones Jr, born on the 4th of July, 1938, died at the age of 45 on January 1st, 1984 in Flint, Michigan. He is buried in the Jones family plot, near his father Richard Allen Sr (1962), his mother Hattie Louise (1992) and at least two siblings.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25926570/richard_allen-jones
I asked the group of 3-12 Infantry veterans that I know to confirm that this truly is the Alpha Company commander. Roger Leaks, who was a medical services officer HHC, 3-12 Infantry responded with this memory.
I can also add that CPT Jones was a Florida native and a graduate of Florida A&M in Tallahassee, FL. When I transferred from the 3/12 to the 1/69th Armor in late April ’67, CPT Jones was still working in the rear area and begging for a chance to command a line company. Back then it was hard for African Americans to get those high profile commands. Still, in late April, I believe CPT Connor was still “A” Company Commander. Apparently, CPT Jones commanded “A” company for a very short time. Less than a few weeks.
Roger Leaks, HHC, 3-12 Infantry, 1965-1967