Curran L. "Jack" Jones

Jack Jones BELTON, Texas - Lt. Col. Curran L. "Jack" Jones (Ret.) was received by our loving Savior, Christ Jesus, on Sunday, November 17, 2013. Service will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, November, 20, 2013, at Salado Church of Christ in Salado, Texas, with the Rev. Bill Bunting officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Salado Cemetery. Jack was born October 4, 1919, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Curran L. Jones and Marie Munckton Jones. He entered Clemson University where he participated in the ROTC and then enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot. He returned after the war to complete his degree in history. One of the first to arrive in the Pacific at the beginning of WWII with the 39th Fighter Squadron, Jack flew P-39 Aerocobras and P-38 Lightnings out of Port Morseby in New Guinea where his many victories distinguished him as an American Ace. He participated in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea and had the unusual opportunity to meet his former foe, the foremost Japanese Ace, Saburo Satai, years later at the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. Following the war, he was transferred to Europe and had a command in the Berlin Air Lift. He retired in Salado, Texas, to launch the Grace Jones' dress shop and raise thoroughbred horses. His perpetual smile and high energy lifestyle will be sorely missed by his wife of 32 years, Joyce Bateman Jones, his daughter, Marie Catherine Jones, stepson, Aaron Austin Mullen and wife, Jennifer, and grandsons, Isaiah and Wyatt. Please direct memorials to the Central Texas Area Museum, 1 North Main Street, Salado, Texas. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at the funeral home. Arrangements in care of Harper-Talasek Funeral Home, Temple, Texas.