World War II bomber pilot: Gideon Jones

A couple of months later, they were hit by flak while bombing a strategic bridge in northern Italy. “We began to lose altitude, lost some engines, and I had an engineer who was badly shot up,” Jones said. He pointed the nose down the middle of Italy, and once they thought they were past the German lines, he gave the order to bail out. Everyone but the tail gunner and ball-turret gunner was captured. Jones went out last and ended up alone, and, after walking south a couple of days, he was captured and sent to Stalag Luft III.

By late January 1945 the Russians were just 17 miles away. “It was cold, rainy, and snowy; it must have been 15 degrees; and we were told, ‘Get your stuff ready within 30 minutes,’” he said. The Germans marched the entire camp 90 kilometers east and loaded them on a train to Stalag 7A, outside of Munich. On a Sunday morning in early May, tanks from the U.S. Army 14th Armored Division rolled up. “One of the first vehicles through the gates was a Red Cross doughnut truck,” Jones said. “They were very welcome.”

Despite seven months in a German POW camp, Jones was slated for the invasion of Japan. He was on 10-day leave when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and he was on his way to a reassignment base in Florida when the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. “So instead of reassignment it just became a victory parade—a wild, wild time,” he said.

“After flying people home I got a chance to stay in or get out. I got out, and I didn’t fly for years.” In 1960 he bought an interest in a Taylorcraft, and then he earned his instructor certificate. When the Light Sport category was created, he and his son, Stanley, saw an opportunity. “In 2006 we bought four aircraft, and we have four hangars at T41 [La Porte Municipal Airport].” He’s still instructing. And you know what? He turns 92 on November 8.