Wesley Jones

(From Hillside Funeral Home)

Staff Sergeant Wesley “Bub” Leon Jones, 22, gave all to his great nation, and was killed in action on August 1, 1943. He was born in Lockwood, Missouri on January 4, 1921 to Sherman W. and Aral M. (Pyle) Jones.

Bub, as he was affectionately known, moved to Wichita when he was under 2. He started out in life as many people did. He grew up in a small home in Wichita where he would sit on the front porch with his dog, Washey, and share an ice cream cone. He attended and graduated from North High. And like many, he felt compelled to enter the military and serve his country as World War II raged overseas.

And while all of the men and women who served have a story, Bub had a story that would be printed in the local newspapers, and even national magazines.

Wesley was called into service in January of 1941. He began with the National Guard, training at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, and was transferred to infantry at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. He worked his way up the ranks and was transferred to the Army Air Corp to be stationed at the Las Vegas, Nevada air field, and then onto Tucson, Arizona. The local Mothers club of Company K, 137th infantry, sent care packages and monthly treat distributions to these local “boys” who began their stories in Wichita, and branched out as the military sent them where they were needed most. Wesley was amongst them.

Bub was sent to train in the Air Corp and became a tail gunner on a B-24D Liberator Bomber. He was based deep in the desert of Libya, where he and the members of the 9th Air Force flew missions over Italy. As Frank Gervasi would explain in his article, “Blasting A Road To Rome:”

First Lieutenant John J. Dore, Jr., was the pilot on a mission over Italy that Gervasi would report on. Dore would say to Jones, “And listen, Jonesy, don’t give me that ‘I’m sucking them in’ stuff if we meet any pursuit today. Gervasi would continue, “It seems that Jonesy is the kind of tail gunner who likes to hold his fire until the enemy is close enough to blast him to pieces. Once when Dore’s formation was attacked from the rear, the tail gunners of all the other ships were blasting away at oncoming Messerschmitts, but Jonesy and his gun remained silent. Dore phoned to ask him if his gun was functioning properly. Young Jonesy’s voice came back, cool as you please, ‘No, boss, I’m just sucking them in.”

The Wichita Beacon would report on Friday, August 6, 1943, page 1, “Sergt. Wesley L. Jones, 22, … tail gunner on a Liberator with the Ninth Air Force stationed somewhere in North Africa, has won the name of ‘Suck ‘Em in Jonesy.’ He has gained fame and his nickname among American fliers for holding his machine gun fire until the Axis planes come in close. By holding his gun fire, ‘Jonesy’ throws the enemy off guard and at close range blasts the Nazi planes to pieces.

“Sergeant Jones has been a resident of Wichita for 21 years… He graduated from North high school and left Wichita with the National guard. Two years ago he transferred to the air corps receiving his primary training at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. He later was stationed at the Smokey Hill air base, Salina. His last visit to Wichita was Christmas, 1942. He has been overseas since January of 1943.”

In Blasting a Road to Rome, Gervasi continues saying, “Jonesy still doesn’t feel it’s important to know where Sicily is. ‘All I want is to go and come back. Yeah. Especially to come back.’

“When you’ve flown in combat with those boys, you come to know that to ‘come back’ dominates their every move and their every thought, once they have located their target and released their bombs.

“At first, there’s the exhilaration of dangerous flight. Then there’s fear. And soon fear, as such, is conquered. From then on, it’s ‘I’ve got to get back.’”

No one knew when these articles were printed that Jonesy had already gone to fight his last fight. A member of the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, he and his crew on the plane “Old Baldy” had been downed over Ploesti, Romania during Operation TIDAL WAVE. Much like Suck ‘Em in Jonesy himself, the Germans had been waiting on the arrival of the bombers, and had prepared. Caught off guard, the allied forces were sucked in to a battle they hadn’t prepared for. Casualties were high. 177 B-24 Liberators, carrying 1,725 American Airmen from five bombardment groups flew out of Libya to Operation TIDAL WAVE. Of these, 51 B-24 Liberators did not return, and 225 Airmen died. The USAAF sent out search planes the next day. But as the territory was still heavily defended, no reconnaissance or rescues could be made. The Romanian government reported that they had buried 216 Americans who were killed, only 27 whom were identifiable. Romanian citizens buried the rest as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan in Ploesti.

Suck ‘Em in Jonesy didn’t care where the military was sending him – he just wanted to get back. Sadly, he didn’t get that chance.

Bub’s mother, Aral, would receive a telegram, with news no mother would wish for, on August 18, 1943, reporting that he was missing in action. The Wichita Beacon would run an article the next day in the paper – “Local Gunner Reported Missing in Middle East.” Sadly, even that would take a turn for the worst as he was declared dead in 1944, the Wichita Beacon running an article on August 22, 1944 with the headline, “Local Gunner is Officially Held As Dead.” Bub knew he might be killed in action. In the August 22nd Wichita Beacon article, he said himself, “If I should happen to lose my life, I know it won’t be in vain.”

The July 4, 1944 edition of the Wichita Eagle shows his parents being presented with his medals. Though not yet officially declared dead, his parents had been told that the likelihood of Wesley being found was slim. Brigadier General Ray G. Harris presented Aral and Sherman with his medals – a distinguished flying cross with one oak leaf cluster, and the air medal with four oak leaf clusters. The Wichita Eagle reported Jonesy, “received the distinguished flying cross ‘for distinguished and meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight in the Middle East theater of operations.’ As tail turret gunner on heavy bombardment aircraft, ‘Sergeant Jones through his courage, skill and unfaltering devotion to duty merits a large share of the credit for his organization’s success against the enemy in the victorious North African campaign.’” On October 8, 1944, a letter addressed to Bub’s mother from Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, awarded the Purple Heart posthumously to Wesley.

Tragic as the story is of Suck ‘Em in Jonesy, there is always a glimmer of hope at the edges of the darkest night. The military never gives up until all soldiers come home. The Case Summary for Wesley reports, knowing where many of these unidentified soldiers had been buried in Ploesti, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) team conducted a significant exhumation of remains from the Bolovan Cemetery, giving them all an identifier, and comparing them with medical records of those lost in Operation TIDAL WAVE. The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80, and they were reinterred at “USMC Neuville (today, Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium).” In 2013, with the advent of newer scientific technologies and forensic identification having made leaps and bounds, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), predecessor to Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) gathered a team of historians, anthropologists, technicians and doctors to begin formulating a strategy to disinter and identify these remains from Operation TIDAL WAVE. Initial approval for the exhumation of 15 soldiers was granted in 2017, and in 2018, the DPAA requested to disinter and examine the remains of another 71 soldiers associated with the operation. The remains were then transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, to undergo all testing.

In the DPAA’s own article about Wesley, they say that they, “… used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.” In doing so, they were able to identify Bub, and now, he’s finally coming home.

Though having originally survived him, those who have currently passed include his parents, Sherman W. and Aral M. (Pyle) Jones; sister, R. Naomi Jones Wells; and niece, Phyllis J. Wells Campbell.

He is survived by nieces, Mary A. Wells Bridges, Georgia L. Wells Carnett; great-nieces and great-nephews, Valorie Forzano, Erin Marroquin, Jeffery DeWeese, Sherri Malcom, Lori Cook, Mark Slater and Craig Slater; and many more great-great nieces and nephews, and great-great-great nieces and nephews.

A viewing will be held on September 23, 2023 from 9:00-11:00 a.m. at Hillside Funeral Home West, 2929 W. 13th St. N., Wichita, KS 67203. A graveside funeral service will take place at Wichita Park Cemetery the same day at 2:00 p.m., located at 3424 E. 21st St. N., Wichita, KS 67220.