Richard Clifton Jones (April 25, 1921–May 31, 1995)
By Samuel Stevenson and Abigail Padfield
Early Life
Richard Clifton Jones was born on April 25, 1921, to Barney E. Jones and Tressie Huffman in Sissonville, Kanawha County, West Virginia.1 It is not known if Barney and Tressie were married and then divorced but, by 1930, Richard lived with his father and his wife, Velcie Boggess.2 Barney married Velcie in 1928.3
According to the 1930 census, seen here, Richard and his family lived in Poca, West Virginia.4 Poca, WV, is situated in the lower western part of the state in Kanawha County. This area, while generally opposed to secession from the Union, included wealthy slaveholders and served as a base for guerrilla activity during the Civil War.5 In 1930, Richard lived with his father, his stepmother, a sister named Emeline, a cousin, and a stepbrother Ulen. Richard’s father worked as a farmer.6 By 1940, his father worked a public school bus driver, earning $945 a year. His step-mother was listed as a homemaker.7 Richard, then 18, had schooling through grade five and worked as a farm laborer.8 He had six siblings: Emeline, Glen, Wilma, Berniece, Ruth, and a step-brother, Ulen.9
World War II Military Service
According to the World War II Draft Card shown here, on February 16, 1942 at the age of 20, Jones registered for the draft.10 On July 24, 1942, he began his service in the US Army as an infantry private.11 After his initial enlistment, he re-enlisted on October 18, 1945 at Fort Knox, Tennessee. He served with the Hawaiian Department until October 17, 1948,12 reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant.13 Though there is little information available about what Jones did while in the Army, as a Staff Sergeant he probably led a squad of nine to ten soldiers with one or more Sergeants serving under him.14
Post-Service Life
Jones married Erna Kapziowiski and they had two sons: Richard W. and Carl C. He moved to Spring Hill, Florida, in 1987, and worked as an electrician in the construction industry. He was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch. He passed away on May 31, 1995 at the age of seventy-four.15 He is memorialized at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, FL.16 Erna passed away on October 28, 2010, in Clearwater, FL.17 They are survived by their sons.
Endnotes
1 “Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017) entry for Richard Clifton Jones.
2 “1930 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017) entry for Richard Jones, Roll: 2538; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0077; Image: 457.0; FHL microfilm: 2342272; “1940 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017) entry for Richard C Jones, Roll: T627_4416; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 20-113.
3 “West Virginia, Marriages Index, 1785-1971,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017) entry for Barney E Jones.
4 “1930 United States Federal Census,” entry for Richard Jones.
5 Scott A. MacKenzie. "Forming a Middle Class: The Civil War in Kanawha County, West(ern) Virginia 1861–1865." West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies 9, no. 1 (2015): 23-45. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed April 8, 2017).
6 “1930 United States Federal Census,” entry for Barney E. Jones.
7 “1940 United States Federal Census,” entry for Barney E. Jones.
8 “1940 United States Federal Census,” entry for Richard C. Jones.
9 Ibid.
10 “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017), entry for Richard Clifton Jones, Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 252.
11 “U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 1, 2017), entry for Richard Clifton Jones.
12 “Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records),” database, The National Archives, Access to Archival Database, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=893&cat=WR26&tf=F&bc=,sl (accessed April 8, 2017), entry for Richard C Jones, Army Serial Number 35435740.
13 “U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006,” entry for Richard Clifton Jones.
14 “Army Staff Sergeant,” Military Ranks, accessed August 1, 2017, https://www.military-ranks.org/army/staff-sergeant.
15 Obituary for Richard C. Jones, St. Petersburg Times, June 3, 1995, accessed August 1, 2017, Newspapers.com.
16 “U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006,” entry for Richard Clifton Jones ;
National Cemetery Administration, "Richard Clifton Jones," US Department of Veterans Affairs, accessed August 1, 2017, https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/NGLMap?ID=5547470
17 Obituary for Erna Jones, St. Petersburg Times, October 29, 2010, accessed August 1, 2017, Newspapers.com.
© 2017, University of Central Florida
