Presentation Date: August 23, 2012
USAF Colonel (Retired) Dan Jones
Born in August 1921, Dan enlisted in the US Navy at age 19 and was trained as a hard hat and free diver.
He was stationed in Hawaii before the Pearl Harbor before the attack on 7 December 1941. Among other duties, he set up the anti-submarine nets outside Bellows Field on the east side of Oahu, Guam, Sausalito, and Antarctica, where we had sub bases.
When the first Japanese mini-submarine became entangled in the Bellows Field net, Dan was on duty and dove to discover it. The first Japanese prisoner of war was taken from this sub; he was processed through Angel Island here in the Bay.
In 1944 Dan tired of diving duty, applied for flight training, and became a B-24 Privateer (PB4Y) pilot flying anti-submarine patrols and conducting air/sea rescue missions.
At the end of the war, he landed on Okinawa and dove to recover a US flag and helm from a landing craft sunk off of the coast. These mementos hang in his living room today.
After the war, he joined the Air Force and eventually flew C-141s. He was also in the California Reserve and flew transports in the Army. Therefore, he is probably the only person ever to earn a Navy diver's badge, Navy Gold pilot wings, Air Force pilot wings, and US Army wings. He will bring all these mementos to his presentation.
After military retirement, he was a civilian aircraft maintenance inspector for Pacific Southwest Airways.
Tell your friends to come with you to hear from a service member who did things no one else ever even thought of.