Russell B Jones, Radio Operator

On the banks of Lake Superior in the year 1922, Ed and Ruth Jones of Duluth, Minnesota gave birth to their third son, Russell. Little did his parents know that 21 years later this baby would die in a horrific and terrifying explosion, 21,000 feet above Nazi Germany, when his B-24 bomber was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Russell was the Radio man on the Hetzler Crew. Russell joined the Air Corps in November of 1942 and became part of the Hetzler Crew about a year later when it was formed in Wendover, Utah. I don't know that I will find any of Russell's siblings unless his parents had additional children after the 1930 census. His two older brothers, Vincent and Wallace, would be about 91 and 88 years old if still living. Russell is buried here in St. Louis at Jefferson Barracks along with 5 of his crew mates, so he is most likely one of the men that went down with the plane.

According to the census of 1920 and 1930, Russell's father was a drayman, which I guess is an old fashioned name for a truck driver, but maybe they meant driving a wagon pulled by horses, I'm not sure. Typical for the upper mid-west, Russell was of Scandinavian heritage. 3 of his grandparents were from Sweden. According to his enlistment record Russell was 5'11" tall and weighed 135 lbs. His army serial number was 17156534. As with all of the men of the Hetzler Crew, I hope that he lived life to its fullest and experienced the best that life had to offer in his short life.

If you are a relative, friend or have any information about Russell B. Jones, please contact me: kirbhund at scglobal.net