Overlooking Route 3 in the heart of Warsaw is a monument to the late Congressman William Atkinson Jones in the churchyard of Saint James Episcopal Church, a gift of the Filipino people in appreciation of his sponsorship of their independence through the Philippine Autonomy Act, better known as the Jones Act of 1916.
Although independence for the Philippines did not come for another 30 years, the Jones Act was the first statement by the U.S. that the Philippines ultimately would become an independent country. While still in office, Congressman Jones died in Washington three years later at the age of 69. At the time, he was the Dean of the House of Representatives.
Near the tomb of the Congressman is the grave of his grandson, Colonel William Atkinson Jones III, one of the great heroes of the Vietnam War. The Jones family had a long and illustrious history of military service to our nation, beginning with Joseph Jones, a general in the American War for Independence and a close friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. In the 20th century that legacy was carried on by William A. Jones III.
Born in Norfolk in 1922, upon graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in the class of 1945, he joined the Army Air Corps, which became the U.S. Air Force with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. Having made the military his career, with the escalation of the Vietnam War, he was assigned to command an air squadron based in Thailand.
On September 1, 1968, he was leading the team of four planes and two helicopters that was attempting to rescue a downed pilot in North Vietnam. In the process, the cockpit of his plane was hit by enemy fire bursting into flames. The enemy fire disabled his plane’s communication system as well as the ejection system. When he pulled the cord to eject, the canopy opened, but failed to eject him from the cockpit. He was able to control the fire to continue his mission and then to return to his base in Thailand.
Badly burned on his face, neck, hands, shoulders and back, he insisted on getting the coordinates on the location of the downed pilot to a recovery crew before accepting medical treatment for himself, actually giving the information of the pilot’s location while on the operating table. After being stabilized initially, he was hospitalized and returned to the U.S. for further treatment. Because of his courage and bravery, the downed pilot was saved. A lieutenant colonel at the time of his injury, he was promoted to full colonel.
Ironically, having survived his injuries in battle, he was killed in an aircraft accident near Woodbridge on November 15, 1969. He was 47. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroism in action, his widow accepting the award from President Richard Nixon in a White House ceremony on August 6, 1970. In the last year of his life, Colonel Jones completed a brief treatise, entitled “Maxims for Men-At-Arms,” still a popular item on the internet.
The citation for the award of the Medal of Honor stated that his conduct reflected the highest ideals of the U.S. Air Force in that despite his critically severe wounds, he continued to attempt to save the other pilot with no thought of his own personal safety. Fortuitously, his family chose to bury him with the other members of his distinguished family in Warsaw, further allowing him to continue to be recognized as the authentic Northern Neck icon that he was.
