Robert Jones was born in Mendon, Michigan and spent his teenage life working on a farm. When he graduated high school, he went to the University of Michigan [Annotator's Note: in Ann Arbor, Michigan]. He did not finish a semester. This was the same year [Annotator's Note: 1942] the 354th [Annotator's Note: 354th Fighter Group, 100th Fighter Wing, 9th Air Force] was activated. One day he saw a plane doing aerobatics and thought that is what he wanted to do. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan]. He went to Keesler Field [Annotator's Note: now Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi] for aircraft mechanics school. He took the tests to be a pilot and passed. He went to Gettysburg College [Annotator's Note: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania] for three months and then to Nashville [Annotator's Note: Nashville, Tennessee] for more tests. He passed everything there and was chosen to be a fighter pilot. He went to Maxwell Field [Annotator's Note: now Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama] and went through the same hazing process as West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy, West Point, New York] or Annapolis [Annotator's Note: United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland]. He graduated and went to Lakeland, Florida flying PT-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Kaydet primary trainer aircraft]. It was heaven. In Canton, Alabama he flew BT-13s [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft], night flying and cross country. One of his cross-country flights caused him to land in Lebanon, Tennessee due to bad weather. He went into town and had a nice Saturday night.

They [Annotator's Note: Robert Jones and his fellow aviation cadets at Maxwell Field, Alabama] did a lot of night flying. He was up one night, and it was nice. He turned on some music and just flew around. He then went to Selma, Alabama for advanced flying. He ended up with ten hours in the P-40 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. On his first flight, he had trouble getting the wheels up. He got to know the plane a little better on the flight. When he landed, the plane ran out of gas. He then had some bad luck. His father was preparing a boat to go fishing, and was burned and died. He flew up for his funeral. He was sworn in up in Michigan so he could be with his group. He went back and did some gunnery school. He then went to Seymour-Johnson Field in South Carolina and flew P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]. They flew low level and got in trouble for it. Fishermen would throw things at them. One man came back with a clothesline wrapped around the tail. He then went to Dover, Delaware. He was having engine trouble and told to go back. When he went in and landed, he had a blow-out and the plane nosed over. He kept it from cartwheeling. He had a few R&Rs [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation] that were exciting in New York and Washington, D.C.

Robert Jones was a late replacement pilot and went overseas in a convoy. It was so rough that for three days, they did not have anything other than what you could hold in your hand. One of the aircraft tenders off to the side, lost a steering column and just missed their ship. He arrived in England and in a week he was assigned with another man who became his good friend to the 354th, in the 353rd Squadron [Annotator's Note: 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force]. He was told the last two guys who had his bunk had been shot down, so he slept on the floor. He flew 15 missions strafing, dive-bombing, and performing aerial combat. He almost shot his commander down. Major Eagleston [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Colonel Glenn T. Eagleston] was the commander and Jones was his wingman. They got into a fracas. A Messerschmitt [Annotator's Note: German aircraft] came across in front of him and he shot at it, just missing Eagleston. They say if you live through the first six missions, you have a chance. He went on a strafing mission against a train. He went across a railyard and was blazing away at boxcars. His first dive bomb mission was against supply boats on the Danube [Annotator's Note: Danube River]. He dove down and came up. He was told he still had his bombs. He had not pulled the right switch, so he went in again and hit the boat. On another mission the weather got so thick he could not see his flight leader well. They all came up out of the overcast in formation. He liked that feeling. He strafed the field [Annotator's Note: airfield] in Linz, Austria. Eight of them went across. They shot up a bunch [Annotator's Note: of enemy aircraft] but lost two of their pilots. Jones' plane was shot up and he had a crack in the canopy from small arms fire that did not go through. He says God is his copilot.

Robert Jones' plane was named "Rebel Butch". He was dating a gal in Alabama who was nicknamed Butch. Rebel was attached due to her being from the South. He got a "Dear Bob" letter from her and it was all over. He could have named the plane a lot of other things and wished he had. Jones' training was in the P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] and he liked it very much. He got to the 354th [Annotator's Note: 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force] and once he got in the P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] and took it up, he knew he wanted to fly that plane. It had a lot of maneuverability. To check and see if a pilot is combat ready, two pilots will fly head on, and they try to turn and get on the tail of the other. On his, he was turning and turning and blacking out, but he did it. He stayed in Europe a year after the war ended. He had been with the group since France and then they moved to Germany. The other men were shipped home earlier. He flew weather reconnaissance. His last base was Herzogenaurach [Annotator's Note: Herzogenaurach, Germany] and his job was to escort people who wanted to fly somewhere for the weekend. He would fly from Holland to England in the rain. Going back once, he was not lucky. He did not think about the crosswinds over the continent. He had flown combat over it, so he recognized the area and made it back. He also took some trips to the Riviera [Annotator's Note: French Riviera, southeastern French coast] on R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation]. They ran out of money and did not know how to get back. They sold things on the black market for money until they got a trip to Frankfurt [Annotator's Note: Frankfurt, Germany] and then took a mail truck back to base. Nobody missed them.

Robert Jones was on the Air Force All-star Football team and played in Nice, France on New Year's Day [Annotator's Note: 1 January 1946]. The coach knew he had told a lie about playing football in college. They won two games against the Army. They practiced on the beach until a Frenchman told them it was mined. He got home just about four years to the day after he left. His two buddies were enrolled in Western Michigan University [Annotator's Note: in Kalamazoo, Michigan], so he enrolled. He taught school for 32 years and was the assistant coach in football. He farmed at night. He had 12 children, so he did not get to sit around much. He always had enough money left to go on the beach and have a weenie roast. He learned to live on what he made.