John Paul Jones
Class of 1933
2013 Hall of Fame
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was born in Loveland at the site of Margaret of York
church and moved to Goshen at the age of 3. His home was located at the
site of the Goshen Medical Center on 28. He stayed in Goshen until his
death, less than one week before his 94th birthday. He was
the grandson of a Goshen hackney driver, the son of a Goshen teacher and
school board member, brother of a Goshen schools nurse, father of a
Goshen teacher and grandfather to six excellent Goshen students. He
drove a Goshen school bus for over 33 years. He was an excellent Goshen student, graduating
with the Class of 1933. Academic/Athletic/Fine Arts Accomplishments:
Fine arts Accomplishments: Played Violin in
the school orchestra (Mrs. Nellie Williams) Drama - Jr. Play… played a college professor Master of Ceremonies …Jr. - Sr. Banquet Drama -Senior Class Play "What About Betty"
played the role of Gilford Bently He learned to play violin, bass fiddle,
saxophone, piano, trumpet, and some clarinet. His music is one reason he
became very good friends with John Glancy.) Academics Accomplishments: 1st place winner - Latin I County
Exam... Sophomore (1930-31). Went to Miami University for regional test 1st place winner - Latin II County
Exams... Junior (1931-32). Went to Miami University for regional test 1st place winner English IV Senior
(1932-1933)… Went to Miami University for regional test Near Perfect Attendance...Only missed one day
of High School for the burial of his grandmother. 3.7 GPA. (
John earned a Wilmington College scholarship for $320 presented upon granduation..
Reason for Nomination:
John Paul Jones earns this nomination because of dedication to Goshen Schools, Goshen Community, Country, and Family.
Goshen Local School Bus Driver: 1950-1983+ (Drove to hundreds of sporting and academic events)
Member of Goshen #119 Masonic Lodge, 1936 – 2009. In 1940 he served as the Worshipful Master having initiated in December 1936.
Volunteer Goshen Firefighter and helped organized yearly Fireman’s Carnival
Civil Defense member
Crop Surveyor for the county
Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) often running Bingo events.
Ohio Athletic Award (1997) for his time and work supporting Goshen sports programs (presented by John Stowe, Principal Goshen High School)
Honored as the Grand Marshall of Goshen Homecoming Parade in 2000
Was recommended to be honored of the Grand Marshall of the Memorial Day parade for 2009 but passed before this could happen.
He gave up his college degree to care for ailing parents.
Serve to Country:
January 3, 1941- Drafted and Classified 1-A by the Warren County Draft Board (his mailing address was Cozaddale, therefore he was drafted by Warren instead of Clermont where he live).
March 12, 1941- Reported to Franklin, OH. Sent by train to Fort Thomas, KY.
March 13, 1941- Swearing in at Fort Thomas
March 18, 1941- sent to Signal corp. Replacement Center at Fort Monmouth, NJ for 13 weeks of Basic training
Mid June 1941- assigned to Lineman Corp #238 and sent to Fort Ord, California for specialty training for the new #255 Signal Construction Company.
July 1941- assignment change… now assigned to Alaska to Join 14th Signal Service Co. (arrived Sept 3, 1941) chosen as truck driver for the detachment and assigned as company commander chauffeur.
Sept.14 -18, 1941- sent to Chilkoot Barracks, Haines, Alaska to repair the phone system (first draftee to arrive at this base).
War Declared Dec 7, 1941
May 14, 1942 Promoted to T/4
1942-1943 Wired the army post, base projectionist, operated switchboard
June 16, 1943 -first furlough home (Skagway to Prince Rupert to Winnipeg, across Canada, to Windsor, Ontario to Detroit to NY Central Station to Union Terminal (June 27, 1943) to Fountain Square to home for 7 days).
July 14, 1943 back in Alaska immediately sent to Elmendorf Field Fort Richardson then to Whittier, Alaska to install a whole new phone system on base.(Alaska was an important communications center because of closeness to Asia and Europe)
Jan 23, 1944- Shipped to Seattle, Washington then to Fort Monmouth, NJ (7 day furlough home on the way)..Then sent to Sea Girt, NJ to prepare to be sent to Europe.
May , 1944 - shipped to Camp Kilmer, New Brumswich, NJ to Newark, NJ, then across the Hudson River to NY Harbor where he boarded the SS General William Mitchell (a large troop ship) on May 3, 1944. This ship was part of a large convoy that split when approaching England.
SS General William Mitchell traveled to Northern Ireland then to the Firth of Clyde, Scotland to meet a troop train which moved John to Glasgow then to southern England arriving May 14, 1944 in Chichester, England to a camp near Alton.
Here the troops waited for Jeeps and trucks to arrive and then were ordered to Southampton, England and then to France.
When arriving, they had to stay anchored in harbor for 7 days while vehicles were lifted from ship to barge. The German bomber moved over daily dropping metal strips to mess up radar. Their ship was attacked twice but the bombs landed in nearby water..
July 25, 1944 a tugboat took the barge, vehicles and soldiers to shore and they moved across the beach and on inland to St. Mere Eglise, France and where they established the first telephone exchange.
The convoy of vehicles and troops moved eastward to Le Mans, France, through Paris, to a chateau out of Rheims, France where a crew was established to do line work in Etampe, France south of Paris. Similar work continued at Chalons on the Marne and Nancy, France.
Sept. 1944 the battalion was moved to Conflans, France to take over the telephone exchange and maintain lines. John got to stay in the home of a French family in Conflans until April 1945 as work continued. From this central location, the crew went out every day to troubleshoot communications lines in France, Belgium or Luxemburg.
Dec 16, 1944 was the day of the Battle of the Bulge. The crew had to approach the battle area and fix lines but they had to keep moving back to avoid attack.
December 16- Jan 28 1945 was a massive German offensive in the Ardennes Forest of Luxemburg and Belgium. Troops marched and rode through Conflans all day long.
Every day the repair crew had to travel to Belgium. In late winter the crew was moved from Conflans headquarters to Dinant, Belgium
on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur where they were put up in a local high school. From there they moved to Bonn, Germany where they worked underground in German- made tunnels connecting jumper wires to maintain service from Cologne to Frankfort, Germany. This is where John and the crew were located when they and the world celebrated V-E Day, May 8, 1945.The Signal team was then moved further NE into Hunfeld, Germany where John met and dined with Mickey Rooney who was entertaining troops. They sat next to each other.
It was from here that John received orders to be sent HOME.
He was trucked southwest to Fulda, Germany onto a train traveling to Compiegne, France to the port at Le Havre, France (which is the port his grandmother used to immigrate it America). Here he boarded a Kaiser liberty ship in late June of 1945 and arrived in New York Harbor in July. He missed seeing the Statue of Liberty because he was assigned to guard a stowaway prisoner below deck.
From New York, he was bused to Camp Kilmer, New Brunswick, NJ then to Fort Indiantown Gap, PA for discharge. He got some sleep but upon awakening he was ordered to a room and given a 30 day furlough and then told to report to Shepherd Field, Texas. He was now assigned to the U.S.Army Air Corp because his specialist group # 238 Linemen and Telegraph unit had been deemed essential. At Shepherd Field he was placed in a pool to be shipped to the South Pacific BUT "the Atomic bomb" was dropped on Japan and orders were changed.
John stayed at Shepherd Field working for several weeks in the Air Inspectors Office. He October he was finally sent to Wright Patterson Field, Fairborn, OH for discharge. He was sent from Wright Patterson by train to Union Terminal, Cincinnati and here he was discharged on Oct. 3, 1945. Ending four years and 7 months of serving in WWII.
His discharge papers reveal that he was awarded Five battle stars ….
Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe.
Sergeant John Paul Jones was awarded The American Defense Ribbon with 1 Bronze star, European-African-Middle-Eastern Theater Ribbon with 5 Bronze Stars, Good Conduct Medal and Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon .
This experience had a profound effect on him for the rest of this life. He made lifetime friends and I am sure carried life changing emotions. We are so proud of him. He often talked about his times in Alaska and Europe. Just a few months before his death at age 93, Mary Butts, his daughter and her brother John Jr., took John to reunited with one of his Alaskan army friends. It was a special reunion that will last in our minds forever. Both died shortly after the meeting.
After the war, John joined the Scottish Rite and the Shriners and reunited with Goshen Lodge.
He sent a summer (1947) working at Heekin Can Company.
He attempted to gain employment Cincinnati Bell but they would not accept his Army training as a lineman and pole climber. (What a shame).
He finally went to Wilmington College with army funds and majored in Engineering. He attended a year and one semester before his parents could no longer handle the farm and he came home to run the farm.
In 1950 he was encouraged by Harvey Hines to substitute as a bus driver at Goshen and his dedication to working for Goshen Schools began. He continued to drive until 1983. He stopped farming in 1975.
On February 14, 1950, he married Mary Katherine Pierce and his dedication to family and began. The union resulted in three children and six grandchildren, all graduating from Goshen.
He tutored most of his own children, grandkids, nieces and nephews as well as many nieces and nephews in Algebra, Latin, French and English. At age 93 he could remember and teach every detail of algebra. Put simply, he was just plain intelligent with the best memory I have ever witnessed. He was an excellent "teacher". Every family member will attest to this fact.
For all the above work in Goshen schools, dedication to the community of Goshen and Service to his country, JOHN PAUL JONES is nominated to the Goshen High School Alumni Hall of Fame.
Nominated by Amy Butts Thompson, Gregory Butts and Mary Jones Butts.
