Harold Jones was born in February 1924 in Mead, Colorado and grew up in Greeley, Colorado. He was a Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] era kid. His parents were divorced and he had three brothers. He lived with his mother, who worked out of the house. Jones delivered newspapers, earning 12 and a half cents a week. He walked to school until he got a bicycle and then he rode to school. The wars going on in Europe and the Pacific were not discussed in his family, but he remembers coming out of a movie theater on a Sunday and hearing on the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He had no feelings about it. He was still in school and did not have to sign up for the draft. He graduated in June [Annotator's Note: year unspecified] and his dad helped get him a job in Shasta [Annotator's Note: Shasta, California] on the dam [Annotator's Note: Shasta Dam; crosses the Sacramento River in Northern California]. He signed up for the draft in July 1942 when it became mandatory. He was 17 or 18, and did not want to get into the war. While traveling home for Christmas, Jones ran into an old friend who was then serving with the 503 [Annotator's Note: 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment]. When Jones saw them in their uniforms, he thought "That's for me" and volunteered for the troops [Annotator's Note: paratroops]. Just because you volunteered for a unit or branch did not mean you would be accepted. Jones was sent to Toccoa, Georgia [Annotator's Note: Camp Toccoa, a basic training camp for US Army paratroopers]. He was assigned to Company E, 3rd Platoon, 1st Squad and stayed in Toccoa for two days before being sent to Camp Hoffman, North Carolina, later known as Camp Mackall. There, he completed basic infantry training. He was colder in North Carolina than he ever was in Colorado. [Annotator's Note: Jones laughs.] They learned map reading, problem solving, and general infantry training. Then they went to Fort Benning, Georgia for jump school, which he graduated from in June 1943. His first jump was also Jones' first time ever in a plane.

Harold Jones [Annotator's Note: after graduating jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia in June 1943] was sent from Mackall [Annotator's Note: Camp Mackall in Richmond County and Scotland County, North Carolina] to Polk [Annotator's Note: Camp Polk, now Fort Polk, in Vernon Parish, Louisiana] where they did one jump, but Jones was on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and did not jump. They were loaded on a train and headed north to Kansas, then on to Denver [Annotator’s Note: Denver, Colorado] and learned they would be going to the Pacific. They tried running while in Denver, but the city was a mile high and it was hard to maneuver in the high altitude. Then the unit was sent to Stoneman in Pittsburg [Annotator's Note: Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California] to get shots and equipment. On 8 May [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1944] they sailed off from Oakland [Annotator's Note: Oakland, California] on the SS Sea Pike. The whole regiment [Annotator's Note: 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division] was on the ship. The Navy was doing gun practice with five inch guns [Annotator's Note: five inch, 38 caliber naval gun] without any warning which scared everybody. They were not part of a convoy on their voyage to the Pacific. They stopped at Milne Bay [Annotator's Note: in Papua New Guinea] and ended up in Dobodura, New Guinea. It was a jungle. Originally, it was an Army fighter base for island hopping, so it had an airstrip. Swing [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General Joseph May Swing, commander of the 11th Airborne Division] wanted to make all his troops jumpers, replacing glider troops. They slept in tents and completed two or three training jumps while there. There were only natives on the island. The troops were educated on Japanese weapons but had no idea how the Japanese fought until combat on Leyte [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Leyte, the Philippines; 17 October to 26 December 1944].

Harold Jones [Annotator's Note: deployed to the Pacific in May 1944 with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division] landed outside of Tacloban [Annotator's Note: Tacloban City, Leyte, the Philippines] 30 days after the invasion [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Leyte, the Philippines; 17 October to 26 December 1944], around 10 November [Annotator's Note: 10 November 1944]. Then they went down the coast and started across the island following a Japanese supply trail, up and down muddy hills. It was rainy and foggy, with very little sunshine. They went five to seven days without any rations because the planes were not able to fly them in. They found a kamote [Annotator's Note: a type of sweet potato] patch and decimated it. They finally got an air drop and had food for a while. They had water, which you can live off of. [Annotator's Note: Jones laughs.] They lost a lot of weight but were in good shape because they were kids. They started up a mountain into a grove of trees, and there was a Japanese officer. Every time they approached, they were shot at, so they moved on, reaching Mahonag [Annotator's Note: Mahonag, Leyte, the Philippines]. Jones was squad leader of 12 men at that time. He was hit by a grenade, and lost a man there. The wounded were sent to an aid station. It was very primitive, with surgery being done by flashlight. General Swing [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General Joseph May Swing, commander of the 11th Airborne Division] came through with the 187th or 188th [Annotator’s Note: 187th Glider Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division or 188th Glider Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division], all in nice, clean khakis. The men all had to shave because the General was coming. He was not happy with the regiment, and the regiment was not happy with Swing. Jones then headed to Ormoc [Annotator's Note: Ormoc, Leyte, the Philippines] and was taken back to Tacloban to the 24th General Hospital for an operation around the 1st of the year [Annotator's Note: 1 January 1945]. He got on the USS Hope (AH-7) to be taken to Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea to recuperate. The Los Banos raid was on 23 February [Annotator's Note: the Raid on Los Baños, 23 February 1945; Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippines]. Jones boarded ship around 20 February and went to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, the Philippines], by then an open port. He was sent to a repo depot [Annotator's Note: slang for replacement depot] and found his own way back to his unit, which at that time was stationed near New Bilibid Prison. Jones was made a platoon sergeant. The unit then headed to Batangas [Annotator's Note: Batangas, Luzon, the Philippines] for R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation]. It was nice, they would go to the river and swim. From Batangas, they went to Lipa [Annotator’s Note: Lipa, Luzon, the Philippines].

Harold Jones and his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division] went to Lipa [Annotator's Note: Lipa, Luzon, the Philippines]. There was an airstrip there. Jones and two other men went scouting in the mountains when all of the sudden, there was a shot. They reported it, and went back later resulting in the loss of 23 men. That was the last day they fought. They were on a hill, and the Japanese were in a valley. The Japanese were industrious with caves, and dug tunnels underground. A few days after the heavy losses, the caves were blown up. Then, they just waited on Lipa and received news that the Japanese were suing for peace. B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] were brought in to take the men to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. There had been nine planes, but one crashed, killing everyone on board, Some of them had qualified to go home. C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] were flown in and took the men to Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, the Philippines], then on to Okinawa where they bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] waiting for further transportation. They loaded up on C-54s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo aircraft], more well-armored than they ever were in combat, and landed at Atsugi Air Base [Annotator's Note: now Naval Air Facility Atsugi near Yokohama, Japan]. They were then taken to a Japanese ballpark to spend the night. The next day, they went into Yokohama and ended up on a pier where there were destroyer escorts. Jones was on the dock when the surrender papers were signed [Annotator's Note: on 2 September 1945]. They went to Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] and got on a train for Morioka [Annotator's Note: Morioka, Japan] on the northern end of the island. The atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] may have saved Jones' life, considering the loss of life that would have come with the invasion of Japan.

Harold Jones [Annotator's Note: serving on occupation duty in Japan with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division after the war] went to Morioka [Annotator's Note: Morioka, Japan] which was a farm town. They had nothing to do. They got new officers who had just arrived overseas. Jones and his men knew more than their new officer and would not do what he told them to. Jones remained in Morioka for three months. Most of them had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to go home, but did not have men to replace them so they were stuck. Jones finally got to leave in December 1945 on the USS Intrepid (CV-11). They arrived in Alameda [Annotator's Note: Alameda, California] along with the Lex [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-16)] which was transporting an admiral. Jones then went to Stoneman [Annotator's Note: Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California]. He left Stoneman by train and arrived in Colorado and was discharged. He made it home for Christmas. Jones did not want to stay in the Army. He would have been sent to Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] if he had stayed in. He did, however, stay in the National Guard for a little extra money until 1953. He ended up working in construction in Greeley [Annotator's Note: Greeley, Colorado, where Jones grew up]. He has remained there ever since.

Harold Jones' [Annotator's Note: combat veteran of the Philippines with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division; discharged in 1946] first jump was his most memorable experience of the war. The first jump was the easiest. The war made him more regimental and leveled him out. He and his men grew very close. His time in the service enlightened him. It made him understand that you do not live forever, and it can end at any time so you have to live it to the fullest and enjoy it as much as you can. World War 2 is not taught today although it drastically changed the United States. Today's generations should be taught about what they all went through, and what it did for the country and individuals. It brought people out of poverty. He thinks about his men occasionally. For a while, he had some PTSD [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed], and would start shaking when watching war movies but it did not last. He is very thankful that he is still here.