HAROLD DANA JONES
HAROLD D JONES
1W/34
REMEMBRANCES
honoring you...
Thank You
Remembering an American Hero
Dear Major Harold Dana Jones, sir
As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.
May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.
With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir
Curt Carter
The battle of Kontum
In May 1972 the South Vietnamese 23rd Infantry Division was cut off and surrounded in Kontum City in the Central Highlands. The equivalent of three enemy divisions supported by heavy artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and tanks were attacking this one division and its American advisors. The airfield was closed because of enemy artillery fire and the only supplies were coming in by parachute. In late May enemy artillery rounds were falling around the division headquarters bunker. U.S. Air Force Major Harold Dana Jones, our air liaison officer, was standing in the open, talking on the air force radio in his jeep. He was out of his element in the middle of a big ground battle but continuing to do his duty by coordinating the bombing and other air support that was saving us from being overrun. On 2 June 1972 Jones was in a helicopter that was shot down in flames, crashed, and burned––with the pilot trapped inside. Major Jones was badly burned and died the next day. His name is on Panel 01W Line 34 below Colonel Brownlee’s.
Standing at the center of The Wall, the first panel on the right lists the first casualties and the first panel on the left lists the last casualties of the Vietnam War. Walt McCarthy died in June 1962 and Harold Jones died in June 1972, exactly ten years apart. Their names engraved on The Wall are only a few feet apart.
