James Henry Jones Jr

View Funeral WebcastMr. James Henry "Pooky" Jones, Jr., 89, long-time Columbia businessman and resident of Oakwood Drive, died Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at Maury Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be conducted Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Tommy Vann officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. The family will visit with friends Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, 222 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. Born at historic Vine Hill in the Cross Bridges Community, he was the son of the late James Henry Jones, Sr. and Mary Brooks Jones and 1938 graduate of Columbia Central High School. In 1942, at the outset of World War II, he joined the U. S. Army Air Corps. After flight training at Maxwell Field in Alabama and later in Moultrie, Georgia, he was assigned to the 53rd Fighter Group at Fort Myers, Florida where he served as an instructor until January 1944. There he joined the 404th Fighter Group which eventually was sent to the southern coast of England at Bournemouth where they were outfitted with P47 Fighters and flew combat missions for three or four months prior to the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Shortly after the invasion, his group was moved to an airstrip near the beachhead in Normandy. During this period, his plane was hit by enemy fire while flying a mission straffing a German Panzer Division. He was able to maneuver his plane back behind Allied lines and crash-landed unhurt. In all, he flew 110 combat missions over Northern France, the Ardennes, Belgium, and the Rhineland and served in battles and campaigns in the European, African, and Middle Eastern Theatres of Operation. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 13 Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Distinguished Unit Badge as a member of the 404th Fighter Group. He was separated from service and returned to Columbia in early 1946. In 1948, Mr. Jones became associated with the Gulf Oil Company and, with his brother, owned and operated Jones Brothers Service Station on West 7th Street for a number of years. In 1955, he was one of the founders of Mid-State Distributing Company and served as Vice-President of the company until his retirement. Mr. Jones was a long-time member of First United Methodist Church and Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. Survivors include his wife, the former Virginia Crozier, whom he married July 18, 1946; daughter, Julia D. "Judy" Baird of Nashville; son, James H. "Chipper" (Martha Towler) Jones, III of Columbia; grandchildren, James Henry (Hayden) Jones, IV, Catherine Elizabeth "Kadi" Jones, William Brooks (Leigh) Jones, Bryan Baird, and Tracy Baird; great-grandchildren, Houston Brooks Jones and Elizabeth McKennon Jones. He was preceded in death by a sister, Josephine Jones Burns and brother, John Brooks Jones. Pallbearers are Jimmy Jones, Sonny Jones, Henry Jones, Brooks Jones, Bryan Baird, Paul Ragsdale, Tommy Patton, Jimbo McCormack, and Campbell Ridley.