WASHINGTON -- A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was also a chief of staff of the Air Force, passed away Aug. 10 in Falcon’s Landing military retirement community in Potomac Falls, Va.
Retired Gen. David C. Jones served as the Air Force’s chief of staff from 1974 to 1978 until he was appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff where he served as the military’s top military officer until 1982.
During Jones’ career, he was assigned to a bombardment squadron during the Korean War and accumulated more than 300 hours on missions over North Korea. In 1969, Jones served in Vietnam as deputy commander for operations and then as vice commander of the Seventh Air Force.
A graduate of the National War College, the general was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1974, an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1975, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Minot State College, Minot, N.D., in 1979.
Jones was born in Aberdeen, S.D., and graduated from high school in Minot, N.D., in 1939.
He attended the University of North Dakota and Minot State College until the outbreak of World War II. At that time, he entered the Army Air Corps, beginning aviation cadet training in April 1942, and received his commission and pilot wings in February 1943.
At the time of his death, Jones was battling Parkinson’s disease.
Jones retired from the Air Force July 1, 1982.
