KAILUA-KONA — As a U.S. military veteran and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, Bob Jones has experienced a lot in his life.
Last week, he experienced something new — the feeling of more than 100,000 people honoring his life, accomplishments and sacrifices to the country.
The Waimea resident, with the support of his family and friends, walked onto the football field of Michigan Stadium last Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of fans who were cheering for something more than a football game.
“It was an outstanding experience,” Jones said. “There was 110,000 people in that stadium. It’s the largest stadium in the country — they call it ‘The Big House’ — and it’s big. Most of them were Michigan fans, but they were very nice and genuine. People were high-fiving me and the cheers were unbelievable.”
The recognition of Jones in the third quarter of Army’s 24-21 overtime loss to the Wolverines was part of the Michigan football program’s Military Appreciation Day, which honored men and women who have served in the U.S. military. Jones was recognized as the Veteran of the Game.
Jones is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, one of five U.S. military service academies. He served in the Air Force for 11 years, during and after the Vietnam War.
“I have a couple of friends that were Michigan graduates and were football players there, too, and they are very involved with Michigan still and Michigan athletics. So they put my name forward,” Jones said. “I’m a graduate of West Point, and I actually played football at Army. I guess they thought it was appropriate if an Army graduate and veteran would be honored that day.”
Jones was recruited out of high school to play football with the Army Black Knights, as quarterback and a defensive back. He played in the football program for two years before a baseball injury — he was hit in the head with a ball — forced him out of contact sports.
Jones then graduated from West Point in 1965, and decided to become a pilot and join the Air Force, where he was commissioned as a lieutenant.
“In those days, they allowed a number of graduates, cadets, to choose to change branches,” Smith said. “My dad and my uncle were both pilots in World War II, so I wanted to be a pilot for really my whole life, so I chose to be commissioned into the Air Force when I graduated.”
Jones finished pilot school and was assigned to fly an F-4 Phantom. His squadron, the 435th tactical fighter squadron, was deployed to Vietnam.
“We flew missions over North Vietnam and over Laos. And to go home, you had to have 100 missions over North Vietnam or one year period of time,” Jones said. “Usually it took 9-10 months to get 100 missions.”
Jones never made it to 100 missions. On Jan. 18, 1968, Jones’ plane was shot down.
“I was shot down on about my 80th mission,” Jones said. “And unfortunately, I was captured. It was a mission over North Vietnam, over a power plant in North Vietnam, I was captured and I was a prisoner of war for 62 months. So five years, two months.”
Jones was released from the prisoner of war camp during Operation Homecoming on March 14, 1973.
He stayed in the Air Force for three more years, before resigning in 1976. Jones was awarded two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit, eight Air Medals, and a POW Medal during his years of service.
Jones was hired by American Airlines after leaving the military, and was a pilot with the airline until his retirement in 2003.
For his retirement, Jones chose to focus on his fellow veterans. He is the CEO of three companies: Veterans Sourcing Group LLC, based in New York; West Point Services, based in Waimea; and Commoneo, based in Detroit, Michigan.
“We’ve put a lot of veterans to work, and that’s kind of what we do now,” Jones said. “We try to help veterans just coming out of the military, and veterans in general; we try to help them get jobs.”
Jones and his wife, Freya, have now lived on Hawaii Island for eight years.
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jones met up with two of his daughters, their husbands, and his son to celebrate his accomplishments in the military. The University of Michigan Athletic Department had given out more than 1,000 tickets to the game for veterans and their families to attend.
“There were a lot of parties and festivities and stuff going on. It was nice because a lot of my family was there, and some of my classmates from West Point were there,” Jones said. “And even my oldest boy, Matt, he was a 1999 graduate from West Point and he went into the Air Force, too. He flew for eight years in the Air Force, and he’s a FedEx pilot now. He was there, and so were many of his classmates.”
Other festivities during the game included the Black Daggers — the official U.S. Army special operations command parachute demonstration team — delivering the game ball by landing in the stadium before the game. There was also a flyover with a CH-47 Chinook, a UH-60 Black Hawk and a UH-72 Lakota conducted by the Michigan National Guard during the national anthem.
In the third quarter, however, Jones had all eyes on him.
“They tell me a lot of people had tears in their eyes, and I had tears in my eyes too. It was pretty humbling to have 110,000 people out there cheering for you,” Jones said. “ And it was nice for me because I had my family there and my friends and classmates and we could all share this together.
“I was there not just for me, but I was representing veterans and disabled veterans. So I was happy and honored to be there to not just to represent me, but all veterans.”