A 101-year-old veteran was awarded a Purple Heart medal last late month, decades after he was injured on D-Day while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Johnnie Jones was not only the first Black officer to receive the designation of warrant officer in Army history, but after leaving the military and returning to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he fought on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement as an attorney.
On June 26, Jones was awarded the honor given to those wounded in combat. Jones was a member of the 494th Port Battalion in the Fifth Engineering corps, charged with storming the shores of Normandy as a part of the third wave of troops. Jones was injured when he was hit in the neck with a piece of shrapnel, but continued to fight without medical treatment, although he hadn’t been awarded a Purple Heart medal following the injuries.
The ceremony was held at the Old State Capital on Saturday, June 26, and attended by officials, other veterans, and family and friends of Jones, as reported by The Advocate.
“He has lived a life of extraordinary courage and heroism,” Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said. The audience applauded when U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy took the Purple Heart medal from its case and pinned it onto Jones’ jacket.
“Johnnie Jones fought to liberate the people of France, led civil rights efforts at home, and selflessly represented his community,” Cassidy said. “Thank you for your service to this country. It’s an honor to present such a well-deserved honor to this great man.”
Jones left Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge in 1943 before joining the military. When he returned, he graduated with a law degree from Southern and was recruited by state civil rights leaders 15 days later to lead the 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, which laid the foundation for the desegregation movement. Jones also braved assassination attempts.
Jones told the audience at the ceremony that he once leapt from his car after it acted strangely when he turned the key, just before it exploded. “Being a parent, I knew how to jump,” he said, prompting laughs from the audience.
Jones practiced law until the age of 93 and served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 to 1976.
The centenarian still suffers from the injuries he suffered in battle.
“The doctor told me it would really hurt in 75 years, but I wouldn’t have to worry about that. I fooled him,” Jones told the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “It hurts, and I’m still picking it out of my head and arm. A piece came out just above my left eye yesterday.”
