Johnnie A. Jones, Senior was born in November 1919 in Laurel Hill, Louisiana. He had three brothers and four sisters. He was the seventh child. One brother died at an early age. He lived in Laurel Hill until 1936. He worked after elementary school in Woodville, Mississippi at a lumber company [Annotator's Note: Ransom Lumber Company in Woodville, Mississippi]. It used to irritate him when he saw people picking cotton. His family farmed and the children left the farm when they grew up. His grandparents were mulatto [Annotator's Note: a person of mixed white and Black ancestry, especially a person with one White and one Black parent] but were considered Black and classified as Negros [Annotator's Note: a term for a person of Black African ancestry]. His grandfather was a true African from Ethiopia. His mother's father was African and a musician who did not work in the fields. Jones walked to school three-and-one-half miles one way when he was six. Jones played marbles. He used a slingshot to hunt and kill birds, rabbits, and squirrels. He had to avoid the Ku Klux Klan [Annotator's Note: either of two violent organizations; one a secret society found in Tennessee in 1866 to upend Black political and social power; one a violent secret society founded in 1915 in Georgia to maintain white Protestant cultural and political power] who run him off the road. Everybody on the plantation except his family were sharecroppers. These people had lost their land to the Klan once Plessy vs. Ferguson was passed [Annotator's Note: landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court establishing that segregation was legal as long as it was equal]. Later in the 1950s, Jones handled a lawsuit to desegregate a school. In 1918, his father was appointed to the school board in his town. Jones cannot verify this, but he was told that. Schools for the Blacks at that time were in churches. A White man named Argues [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was on the school board too. Blacks were supposed to be able to vote back then and were Republican. He had Jones' father appointed as well as another Black man. They argued to get a schoolhouse built and that is where Jones went to school. They had a pot-bellied stove for heat. They only went to school for three months each year. The children had to get the wood for the stove, regardless of their age. The children worked during harvest time. His father did not have his children help with the crops. He gave them the choice to either go to school or work the fields, but not both. Jones went to school because he could not stand the cotton fields. Sometimes there were only two children in school. He finished sixth grade.

Children only went to school for three months each year. After he finished school, Johnnie A. Jones, Senior's brother, Ellis, had gone to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and opened his own business. The rich people in New Orleans had big automobiles and kept their own gasoline. His brother would bring the gas and deliver it to the residences. Jones then went to a lumber company [Annotator's Note: Ransom Lumber Company in Woodville, Mississippi] and worked as an office boy in Woodville, Mississippi. The man in charge was named Mister Johnny. Mister Johnny would go to the yard and count the stacks of lumber. Jones was asked to do it after some time and would keep the yard in operation. Mr. Huggins [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was the superintendent. He found out that Jones was doing the shipping and did not give out any free lumber. They would take Jones' boss fishing and hunting and leave Jones there. They would check the books and see that Jones was saving them money. Word got out that Jones was doing this work. That got back to Laurel Hill [Annotator's Note: Laurel Hill, Louisiana; Jones' hometown]. Jones would go home on the weekends. Mrs. Huggins would drive him home. Jones' father told him he could not go to work because he was putting him in The Southern [Annotator's Note: Southern University Demonstration School, now Southern Lab, or Southern University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] because of what he saw he was able to do. That is how Jones got to Southern University [Annotator's Note: Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana].

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior went to Southern University Demonstration High School [Annotator's Note: Southern University Demonstration School, now Southern Lab, or Southern University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. There were six of them who took the entrance test. Only two passed and were admitted, Jones and Purlene Ross [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] who was Doctor Chadman's [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] niece. Sydney Dallas [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] had more months of school than Jones was an earlier classmate. He later named himself Sydney Toussaint. Sydney was not admitted to the school. Jones was a freshman in college when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. At Southern University, the students who got their draft notice had to report the next day. LSU [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] students were permitted to complete their semester and then report. Jones went to the draft board, asked to be allowed to finish his third semester, and was told no. He said he would finish his third semester first. Two members of the draft board said that he was just requesting what they were giving the LSU students. One man stood up for him and then another joined with him. They all then fought amongst each other but then decided to let him finish that semester. When he returned home, they thought he had been turned down. That was taboo in the Black community. His father saw him and dropped his head thinking he was deemed not fit to go. He told his father the story. Every time the community saw a police car, they thought they were coming to get Jones. Jones finished his semester and returned to the draft board. He had told his father was going into the service as he promised. His father then told him to do it again and not go. Jones told his father he had taught him his word was his bond. The board member that stood up for him said he had told them so. The draft board gave Jones a letter of integrity to take to boot camp.

The draft board gave Johnnie A. Jones, Senior a letter of integrity to take to boot camp. [Annotator's Note: Jones describes the events leading up to this in the clip titled “Demanding Equal Treatment at the Draft Board” of this interview series.] There were six busloads of them going to Camp Claiborne [Annotator's Note: in Rapides Parish, Louisiana]. He gave them the letter and they did not know what it was. He told them he knew how to handle a rifle. They asked if he could type. He reiterated he knew how to shoot. They laughed. They drilled every morning for three months. At their review, they were asked questions. Jones had been put in charge of all of the students there from universities among the busload of men when they were going to Claiborne. He put one university student in charge of each bus. Only one person jumped off the bus at a stop they made. At boot camp, they said it was the first time only one person was missing. One guy in the group had ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] training at Xavier [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana], Joseph Demoore [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] from New Orleans. Several students from Southern University went straight into office work. The inspecting general asked Jones a lot of questions. He answered every one of them. He took his name to the commanding officer and who he was supposed to be in an office job. They were using college students for that instead of going out in the field. They did not have to make reveille [Annotator's Note: reveille is a signal sounded on a bugle or drum to wake military personnel]. Some of them never even wore their fatigues [Annotator's Note: military work uniform].

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior was drafted in 1942 and went to Camp Claiborne [Annotator’s Note: in Rapides Parish, Louisiana]. He was put in Supply administration and was sent to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to a recruiting camp, Camp Harahan [Annotator's Note: also called Camp Plauche in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana]. He was a buck sergeant [Annotator's Note: the lowest rank of sergeant in the military; E5] when he left Claiborne. Recruits came in by the thousands. They had 90-day wonders [Annotator's Note: derogatory slang for a newly commissioned graduate of Officer Candidate School] in charge. Jones was ordering supplies. At parades and reviews, the 90-day wonders would have to tell the soldiers what the Army was about. One of them got cold feet [Annotator's Note: slang for nervous] when he saw the big crowd. Jones took the bullhorn and did it for him. The man looked at Jones' records and scores and said that he saw that Jones had refused to go to Officer Candidates School. Jones chose to go to Quartermaster [Annotator's Note: supply support for soldiers in the field] school instead. The man said he wanted to send him to engineering or infantry. Jones said he wanted administration. The officer was Lieutenant Colonel Ballard [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and ordered him to go to the school he wanted him to. Jones said he could not do that. Ballard asked him where he was from. When Jones replied he was from Louisiana, Ballard said he was one of the Huey P. Long [Annotator’s Note: Huey Pierce Long Jr.; 40th governor of Louisiana, 1928 to 1932] boys. Jones never made staff sergeant [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officer rank just above sergeant and below technical sergeant or sergeant first class; E-6]. Lieutenant Goodman told him about being a warrant officer [Annotator's Note: officers above non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen but subordinate to officer grades] and that he could be one by taking a test. Jones was the second person sworn in as a Warrant Officer I. He had studied well at his eating breaks. He took the tests after three months of studying. At the peer review panel, he was called "mister", which is what warrant officers are called. He did not know that. He was told he made it. He got a check and had to buy his new officer. He went to Chalmette [Annotator's Note: Chalmette, Louisiana] and then to Charleston, South Carolina.

Johnnie A. Jones Senior was made a warrant officer [Annotator's Note: officers above non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen but subordinate to officer grades] and went to South Carolina. In New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana], he was not segregated and was the only Black in the group. In Charleston, South Carolina, he met General Ross [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] within hours after arriving. Ross said that if anyone gave him any trouble, to come straight to him [Annotator's Note: Jones corrects the name to General Duke; phonetic spelling; unable to identify]. Ross was his general after the invasion. Jones went to England on 18 October 1943 with the 5th Army in the 494th Port Battalion [Annotator's Note: 494th Port Battalion, 6th Engineer Special Brigade]. The British were conniving and trying to beat them out of anything. They were using Lend-Lease [Annotator's Note: Lend-Lease Policy, officially An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States 1941 to 1945]. Nothing grows on that island except for brussels sprouts and white potatoes. Jones and his men loaded supplies according to geometric principles. He never made a mistake. He had good officers who were supportive. The English treated them nicely but were always trying to outsmart them. Jones went into Omaha [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach in Normandy, France] on D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. His unit had been left behind in Manchester, England with three or four men to catalogue the personal effects of the 494th. When they finished, he had to catch up to the 494th going in. He traveled by night with Jackson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and Carter. Nix went with the unit. Jackson was the driver. Carter [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] had been promoted by Jones. The unit went in on the Francis C. Harrington [Annotator's Note: USAT Francis C. Harrington]. Jones was given his orders. The towns were on curfew, but he could come and go as he wanted. The watches of everyone were synchronized. No place in the world gets darker than England due to the fog. Jones had to catch up to his unit by train and by truck. His training served him well and was a blessing in disguise that he went out in the field [Annotator's Note: in boot camp]. Going through in the dark, he was in thickets and had to use passwords. He made it to the Francis C. Harrington in the English Channel.

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior went ashore at Omaha [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, 7 June 1944 with the 494th Port Battalion, 6th Engineer Special Brigade]. The ships were butting up against each other. The Germans were shooting, and planes were coming over. Everywhere you looked was bullets. Jones was blown into the sky [Annotator's Note: when his ship, the USAT Francis C. Harrington, hit an explosive mine]. He got off the Francis C. Harrington and onto a landing craft. He got off that into water up to his neck. Germans were in a pillbox [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns] and were wiping the men out as fast as they got off the ships. Jones stood still like Stonewall Jackson [Annotator's Note: Confederate States Army General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson] with bullets whistling by his ears. He finally got ashore, and the dead were piled up. He drank water out of a ditch. It was hell. A guy jumped out of a tree. Jones had a sidearm that was gone now. He picked up a dead man's carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. An American with a bulldozer drove into the pillbox and that is they only way Jones and others made it to shore. The guy who did it, lost his life. His friend was hanging over the side of the ship before they went in. Jones did not see him again until they were in Rouen [Annotator's Note: Rouen, France]. Jones shot at a man but does not know if he killed him. Everyone was shooting so he would not take credit for it. Every now and then he sees the man falling from his nest [Annotator's Note: currently as a memory]. They went on all the way through to Germany. The most miserable thing was seeing all of the dead and he still sees it now. He hates to even talk about it.

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior's feels we have to learn how to avoid killing and war. We are advanced in civilization and are more educated. We need to stop acting like heathens. We should be able to talk about our differences and how to compromise to get along. There is no sense in fighting wars with guns and nuclear weapons. We can sit down and talk. Jones was injured when he was blown up [Annotator's Note: at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, 7 June 1944 with the 494th Port Battalion, 6th Engineer Special Brigade]. He could not get up in the mornings after convalescence. He walks with a cane now. His ship [Annotator's Note: USAT Francis C. Harrington] was blown up. A lot of them had not gotten off the Francis C. Harrington when it was hit. It had a device on the ship that saved him and others. Jack [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] had fallen over the side. Jones pulled him back in. He saw him after the war and they both started crying. Jones got into an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] after going off the ship and went ashore. He stayed in Europe until 1945. They were getting ready to go to Japan when the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] dropped. He came home in 1946. Jones kept going through France and was in the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] keeping records and making reports. He was in the war until it ran out. He made changes to the same of the recording system because he felt it took too long to make the reports. His colonel tried to steal his method, but Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] would not let him. Eisenhower’s headquarters asked Jones to come down to see them.

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior [Annotator's Note: in the 494th Port Battalion, 6th Engineer Special Brigade] was in the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] but was not in combat. He was in a Port Battalion. His job was keeping records. Warrant officers [Annotator's Note: officers above non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen but subordinate to officer grades] are pencil-men. You just have to learn the nomenclature and can work anywhere. You cannot make mistakes. He was reading about a guy who got killed in the last war [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] who was a medic warrant officer. A girl with him was saved. She got a gun somehow and lived through it. She told them they do not have guns. She said he made a wrong turn when they were traveling. They could have been killed by their own people making a mistake like that. Jones was offered to become a general but he was not war minded. He does not like war. He adapted to war and the strategy of war. He can see danger coming when others cannot. They had reconnaissance who made it in. It amazed him because the Germans had occupied all of France. Going in on D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] seemed to be profoundly asinine. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] contended that they had to be hit at their strongest point. He knew a lot of people would be lost. The Germans were shooting from everywhere. When the ships came in, they had to unload. They had pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns] up above facing the water. The guns could knock out anything. The Germans were coming in from Southern France. Reconnaissance sent them right there to bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite]. Jones said they could not do that. Airplanes were coming over there and knew exactly when to bomb that area. Jones said he was going up to get behind that pillbox where they would be safe. The 90-day wonders [Annotator’s Note: derogatory slang for a newly commissioned graduate of Officer Candidate School] did not like Jones talking to the Colonel like that, but the Colonel did what he said. The planes came over and bombed where they would have been.

Johnnie A. Jones, Senior left the Army as a Warrant Officer II [Annotator's Note: officers above non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen but subordinate to officer grades]. His service means a lot because he learned a lot. He learned a lot from his officers. He would not have gotten his education if he had not gone in the service as he was too poor. He went to law school at Southern University [Annotator's Note: Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. World War 2 gave an outlook on freedom and liberty and means that the United States is the greatest nation in the world. He has been to a lot of places, and it is the best place to live. He was beaten up in the Civil Rights Movement [Annotator's Note: the name for the struggle for social justice, mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States], but he never thought of leaving the country. It is the advancement of civilization. The war did not change him because he grew up in the country and his daddy and mother taught them and laid out plans for them. He was obedient and listened to his superiors like his dad. His parents were smart. Jones visited the museum, and it pictures everything pretty well. Very little is missing. On D plus 25 [Annotator's Note: 25 days after D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and D plus 27 [Annotator's Note: 27 days after D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], the planes coming over them looked like mosquitoes in a swamp. It is hard to be on the ground and watch a man turn upside down after being hit by a bullet. Some of them were dummies though. Some of them looked like they were coming down right on top of him.