Emory Lewis Jones was born 29 May 1911 in Roosevelt County, New Mexico to Romulus and Willie Victoria Jones, both of whom were native Texans. His father’s career as a newspaperman caused the family to move several times when Emory was a child. Emory had four older brothers. A sister was born in 1917, after the family had settled back in Texas.

The Jones family lived near Lubbock for a time in the small towns of Littlefield and Whiteface. Young Emory graduated from high school about 1929. In 1933, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), one of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The CCC was a work relief program for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18 to 25 that ran from 1933 to 1942. Emory signed up at the beginning and was shipped off to Fort Bliss, Texas for induction training.

In about 1934, Emory Jones enlisted in the Army as an electrician. Within a short time, he was a sergeant in the coastal artillery. In 1938 he attended an NCO development course at Ft. Monroe, Virginia’s Coastal Artillery School. The following year, Emory was on board the transport ship USS Grant en route to the Philippines for a one-year overseas tour. He actually remained in the Philippines for nearly two and a half years. Technical Sergeant Jones arrived back to the United barely a month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was on one of the last transports out of the Philippines before the attack.

An Army Special Order, dated 15 May 1942, converted a significant number of non-commissioned officers to the rank of Warrant Officer Junior Grade (WOJG). Technical Sergeant Emory Jones was one of those NCOs. At the time of this promotion, he was stationed at Fort Crockett, Texas in Galveston Bay, assigned to Headquarters Battery, 20th Coastal Artillery. He wasn’t a warrant officer for long, as he very soon thereafter began attending the Signal Officer Candidate School at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. He graduated with OCS Class 08-1942 and was commissioned a second lieutenant on 12 Sep 1942.

Immediately after graduation, 2LT Jones was assigned to the 92d Signal Battalion at Camp Maxey, Texas, where he continued Signal training. While there, he was assigned to the 92d Signal Battalion. He took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1943 while a member of the 92d. The 92d departed the United States for Europe in late 1943, and arrived in Northern Ireland on 9 Jan 1944. They were billeted at Camp Ballyscullion, near Ballaghy, a village in County Londonderry.

During the Spring of 1944, now-1LT Jones was selected to command the 3253d Signal Service Company, which was activated in late April 1944 at Wincham Hall, Cheshire, England. The 3253rd supported the 15th Corps as it moved through France and Germany following the landings at Normandy. The 3253rd actually landed at Omaha Beach on 12 Jul 1944. In September 1944, Emory Jones was promoted to the rank of Captain. He commanded the 3253d for another year, relinquishing command on 11 Sep 1945.

Captain Jones returned to the United States by December 1945 and was stationed at Camp Crowder, Missouri. Very shortly after his arrival, he and his sweetheart, Orville Azzlee “Schottie” Sellers, traveled to San Antonio, Texas, and were married on Christmas Day. Following a short honeymoon, CPT Jones and his wife moved to Ft. Lee, Virginia, where he was scheduled to attend another Army professional development course.

With the massive troop drawdown following the end of World War II, many enlisted Soldiers who had received commissions during the troop build-up of the early 1940s were reverted back to enlisted status. In February of 1946, Master Sergeant Emory Jones returned to the coastal artillery, when he enlisted at New Orleans, LA.

During the next decade, Emory Jones PCS’ed several times. Along the way, he and his wife had three children, two girls and a boy. Their middle child, Mary Jane, passed away after a short illness while the Jones family was stationed in Panama in 1949. They returned to the U.S. that summer and made a home at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In 1950, they transferred to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, then to Ft. Polk, Louisiana in 1951 and to Fort Hood, Texas in 1952.

The United States’ involvement in Korea caused another build-up of military forces, enabling then-Master Sergeant Jones to once again assume the rank of Captain in the interest of the needs of the Army. CPT Jones PCS’ed again, to Okinawa, in 1953. His family joined by passenger ship that August. Following the Korean War, his rank reverted back to Master Sergeant.

MSG Emory Jones retired following his tour on Okinawa and settled down with his wife and children in Killeen, Texas, where he had lived when he was stationed at Fort Hood. He took a civilian job in the Signal Shop at Fort Hood and worked there for several years. On at least seven occasions in the late 1950s, his cost-cutting suggestions won him cash awards from the post incentive program. Unfortunately, about this time, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Aggressive treatment sent the cancer into remission, but in 1962, it came back and had spread throughout his body. He passed away at the Ft. Hood military hospital in February 1963. He was laid to rest in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Kerrville.

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