Leslie K. Jones

NAME: Leslie K. Jones

ASN: 33500076

PLACE OF BIRTH: Mercersburg, PA

DATE OF BIRTH: 10 Dec 1922

DATES OF SERVICE: 06 Feb 1943 - 09 Nov 1945

UNIT ASSIGNED:

A Co 509th PIB

H Co 508th PIR

CAMPAIGNS: Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland

AWARDS: Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge with combat jump star, EAME Campaign Medal with arrowhead and four bronze campaign devices, WWII Victory Medal, Distinguished (Presidential) Unit Citation with bronze oak leaf cluster, Three Overseas Service Bars

SUMMARY OF SERVICE:

06 Feb 1943 - Enlisted at Harrisburg, PA - NARA Enlistment Record

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER	33500076	33500076
NAME	JONES#LESLIE#K##########	JONES#LESLIE#K##########
RESIDENCE: STATE	32	PENNSYLVANIA
RESIDENCE: COUNTY	055	FRANKLIN
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT	3252	HARRISBURG PENNSYLVANIA
DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY	06	06
DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH	02	02
DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR	43	43
GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION	PVT#	Private
GRADE: CODE	8	Private
BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION	BI#	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
BRANCH: CODE	00	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
FIELD USE AS DESIRED	#	#
TERM OF ENLISTMENT	5	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
LONGEVITY	###	###
SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL	0	Civil Life
NATIVITY	32	PENNSYLVANIA
YEAR OF BIRTH	22	22
RACE AND CITIZENSHIP	1	White, citizen
EDUCATION	0	Grammar school
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION	788	Semiskilled warehousing, storekeeping, handling, loading, unloading, and related occupations, n.e.c.
MARITAL STATUS	6	Single, without dependents
COMPONENT OF THE ARMY	7	Selectees (Enlisted Men)
CARD NUMBER	#	#
BOX NUMBER	0668	0668
FILM REEL NUMBER	1.185	1.185

04 Sep 1943 - Pvt. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 departs Newport News VA for North Africa

25 Sep 1943 - Pvt. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 arrives in Algeria, North Africa and moves to Oran, North Africa and then on to Oujda, North Africa to the Airborne Training Center at Camp Kinkle

30 Dec 1943 - Departed North Africa for Italy

02 Jan 1944 - Arrived as a replacement in Naples, Italy

11 Jan 1944 - Pvt. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 HQ Airborne Trng Center APO 700 SO 4 - Assigned to A Co 2nd Bn 509th PIR

22 Jan 1944 - Participated in Operation SHINGLE the Amphibious invasion of Anzio, Italy

02 Apr 1944 - Pvt. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 A CO 509th PIB comes off the line and returns to Naples, Italy

09 Jun 1944 - Moved to Rome

24 Jul 1944 - Pfc. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 A Co 509th PIB Listed on jump manifest for Operation DRAGOON (RUGBY), Bn Plane 7, A Co Plane 7, Seat 3

15 Aug 1944 - Pfc. Leslie K. Jones 33500076 A Co 509th PIB participated in Operation DRAGOON the airborne invasion of Southern France

22 Dec 1944 - 509th PIB moves out toward Manhay, Belgium participates in Ardennes Campaign

29 Jan 1945 - 509th PIB is at Trois Ponts, Belgium to rest and re-organize

01 Mar 1945 - 509th PIB disbanded, Pfc. Leslie K. Jones is transferred to H Co 508th PIR

12 Jun 1945 - Writes letter home

09 Nov 1945 - Honorably Discharged

18 Jul 1948 - Leslie K. Jones, Hometown: Shippensburg, PA on Reunion LIST A

?? ??? ???? - Married Mabel Virginia Shoop Jones

28 Dec 1990 - Mabel Virginia Shoop Jones passed away

23 Mar 2010 - Leslie K. Jones passed away

Transcribed letter as written by Leslie “Ken” Jones.

Frankfurt Germany – Tuesday June 12, 1945

Dear Mom & Dad

Just a few lines to let you know I am OK and hope this finds everybody at home the same.

Haven’t received any letters from you for 3 weeks now. I can’t figure it out. I haven’t been getting any mail at all the past 2 months.

I guess you are wondering what I am doing here in Frankfurt. We are supposed to be in the show outfit for Ike. We put on all the parades and so forth for all the big shots that come here. We were supposed to have a parade this week for some Russian General. I don’t know just how long it will last.

We have a nice setup here. We are living in four room apts. They have a kitchen and room downstairs and 2 rooms and a bath up. The one that I am living in is not bad but it don’t have as nice furniture as some of them but it is better than what I have lived in since I have been over here. All of the kitchens have an electric stove and hot water heaters in and they work. We have 5 men to one apt so we are not to crowded.

I came up on a truck and I get to see a lot of the country and people living dam good. I only saw a couple of towns that were tore up very bad. It is not near like it was in Southern Italy. That place is really tore up there.

In one of your letters that I got sometime ago you wanted to know where all I have been and what I have done so I will try and tell you all that I can remember. I left the states the 4th of Sept 1943 at New Port News Va and got off at Algeria N. Africa the 25th of Sept and from there went to Oran N. Africa and from there to Oujda were the Airborne Training Center was and stayed there for 3 months. All I done there was drive a weapon carrier and was a GI assistant. I run around with another Jones boy from Detroit he was a good guy and I spent Christmas there. I eat Christmas dinner with a bunch of S. Africans that were at the air field there and they sure had a real dinner. I left there the 30 of Dec and joined the 509 at Naples the 2 of Jan 44. They were getting ready for the job at Anzio there so I was just in time for it and my first taste of combat. We went in at Anzio the 22 of Jan 44 on boats and I was really sweating it out. We hit the beach at 4:30 in the morning and by luck there was no opposition on it. We went on inland past the Mussolini canal and stayed there. We had one man get the Congressional Medal of Honor on that job. You probably read about it in the papers. Paul B. Huff was his name. I had a lot of close calls there and seen a lot of my best friends get killed there. We stayed on Anzio for 72 days before we got pulled off and went back to Naples. We stayed their from Jan 22 to April 2.

We stayed in Naples which was a nice place to stay. We had a school house that we lived in and I had a lot of good times there. We had 3 practice jumps and then we moved to Gastum which is below Salnero to an airfield. We had 3 combat jumps called off on the push to Rome which I did not mind a bit. We left their the 9 of June and moved up to Rome. We stayed about 18 miles out of Rome at a place called Ostia along the coast were all the big shots of Rome lived. We stayed in a college their which was real nice place. We had plenty of things to do their. We had a place to swim and a nice theater and such life. I made quite a few trips to Rome and I sure would like to get back their.

Then we left their some time the first of Aug and moved up around (? Unknown town) to an airfield and got ready for our jump in S. France. We took off around 12:00 clock and jumped at I think was around 4:30 in the morning of Aug 15. I had a very nice jump. We dropped around 15 miles inland at a place called Le Muy. We stayed there for 3 days and the seaborne forces made contact with us and we move out and up the coast towards Nice. We had a couple of tough fights getting up there. We rode through Cannes and Antibes on tanks and those people just about pulled you off of them and they give you all the wine and stuff you could drink for nothing. The girls were the worst of them all and then we moved up to Nice and from there to the Maritime Alps and they are sure something to see. We were on the front 93 days in all on the Southern France job and again as before a lot of my best friends got killed. We left Nice around the first of Nov and moved up just out of Paris and from there went to the Bulge and we were in there until we got broken up and again I lost a lot of my friends. Well that just about covers it now but I can tell you more about it when I get home.

We have been getting a lot of rain here the past while back. It has been raining here all day now. Are you getting any rain back their.

I guess Sammy and Katie are having quite a time now that school is out. Did they all pass.

How is the cherries this year? Are they ripe yet. I had some white ones on the way up here and they sure was good.

Do you have your garden all planted yet and the lot? How many peppers do you have now? Quite a few of them.

Well mom I am getting tired of writing now so I will close for now and write more the next time.

Write real soon

With Love

Ken