Junius Wallace Jones, B. S., was a major general in the United States Air Force. He was the Air Inspector for the Air Force when it was formed in 1947.
Early life
Jones was born at Centenaria, the former home of the President of Centenary College, in JacksonLouisiana on April 3, 1890 to Philip Huff Jones, M.D. and Annabelle Smith, the second-born of five children. Jones was descended from a prominent local family, his paternal grandfather was John Welch Jones, MD. having been director of the East Louisiana State Hospital and his maternal grandfather having been a plantation owner. Jones came from a family with a military tradition. Jones descended directly from three soldiers, Samuel Jones, Thomas Jackson, and Samuel Hilton, who served in the Revolutionary War with General Francis Marion, known as "the swamp fox". His grandfather, John Welch Jones, was in the Mexican–American War and served the army of the Confederate States of America as captain of a company of cavalry, the Plains Cavalry, which he organized. Jones received private primary and secondary education. He was attending Louisiana State University in his junior year when he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which he entered on March 1, 1909. Jones graduated in 1913 with a bachelor of science degree.
Jones received his commission as a second lieutenant on June 12, 1913 and was assigned to the coast artillery at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Jones was reassigned to Fort Winfield Scott, California in 1914 where he served with the 64th Company and later with the 27th Company. Jones was assigned to the United States Military Academy as an instructor in 1916. In June 1919, Jones was ordered to military duty in Koblenz, Germany with United States Forces. In 1920, Jones was ordered to Paris, France where he served in motor transport.
After the United States Air Force was created from the Army Air Forces in 1947, General Jones remained as Air Inspector until 1948. He was subsequently assigned as commanding general of the Sacramento Air Material Area at McClellan Air Force Base, California, a position in which he remained until his retirement in 1952.
Honors
General Jones was decorated with the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Medal. In 2015 the Air Force established an annual Junius W. Jones Inspector General Award named in his honor to recognize outstanding inspection programs within Air Force units.
Personal life
Jones married Mary Beirne Harmon at New York in December 1914, daughter of Edward Valentine Harmon and Marie Antoinette Kinney of Staunton, Virginia. Mary Beirne Harmon Jones died on July 28, 1917 in childbirth at the age of 26. She is buried in Thornrose Cemetery at Staunton, Virginia. One child, Mary Beirne Jones, was born on Jul. 28, 1917. She married Hugh Holmes Kerr, Jr.. They resided in Staunton, Virginia. Hugh Kerr died in 1963. Mary Bierne Jones Kerr died on September 23, 1970 after a long illness, predeceasing her father. She was buried in Thornrose Cemetery. The Kerrs' descendants continue to live in Staunton. Jones married Josephine Lanier, however the marriage did not last. Jones married Katherine Callahan in 1937, Although the marriage did not last, a daughter, Esther Marilynn Jones was born of this marriage. Jones' father, Philip Huff Jones, MD, died on May 10, 1946, and was buried in Old Jackson Cemetery, Jackson, Louisiana. Jones's mother, Annabelle Smith Jones, died at Baton Rouge on December 3, 1957 and was buried at Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery, St. Francisville, Louisiana. Jones remodeled Centenaria, the home of his parents at the time of his birth, to serve as his personal residence. After Jones returned to live in Jackson, he married widow Anne Howell Turpin of Jackson on 12 June 1969 at New Orleans. Jones' younger brother, Philip Harold Jones, M. D., D. Phil., former Rhodes scholar, who practiced medicine in New Orleans, died on November 13, 1970 at New Orleans and was buried in Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery, St. Francisville, Louisiana. Jones liked to ride horses, In addition, he was noted his ability to prepare a Sazerac cocktail.
Retirement
General Jones accepted a position as airport director of Moisant Airport, a position which he occupied for some years. After he left that employment he moved to his family plantation near Jackson, Louisiana where he kept horses and rode frequently. He then remodeled Centenaria, which is a house built in 1840 to serve as the residence of the president of Centenary College of Louisiana, where he resided with his wife, Anne Howell Jones, for the remainder of his life.
Death
Jones died at Centenaria on 14 February 1977 after a stroke. Jones is buried in the cemetery of Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville, Louisiana. Anne Garnett Howell Jones lived until January 22, 2001 when she died at Zachary, Louisiana. She was buried in Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery beside her husband.
