Jones, Eben D.

“Misty Capt Eben D. “Jonesy” Jones, an early version of stealth, was so quiet, you had to pull every bit of information out of him. He probably never bragged a day in his life. Medium height, muscular, self-effacing, and fair-skinned, he always appeared sunburned. Perhaps it was the searing Southeast Asia sun, or maybe he was always blushing. Either way he a ready smile and always chuckled at himself.

Jonesy claimed to be the only guy who got into Misty by wrecking his Commander’s airplane. He had been flying the squadron commander’s F-100 on a bombing mission out of Tuy Hoa, another beachside base 220 miles northeast of Saigon, when he got too close to the flight leader and picked up a fragment from one of the leader’s bombs. Planes got “fragged” occasionally, usually because the pilot failed to keep enough distance from the airplane up ahead. “Pilot error” it was called. Repairing the damage would have been a minor matter for the maintenance guys, except the plane caught fire in the hangar and ended up being demolished. Jonesy found himself with an enraged lieutenant colonel on his tail and somehow he had to “get out of Dodge”.

He pleaded with the personnel department at Tuy Hoa for any assignment that was available. The assignment officer said that they had just gotten a request for something called Commando Sabre. “I’ll take it” Jonesy volunteered even though he knew nothing about the unit. “When can I leave?” The next day he was on a plane toward freedom. He often compared joining Misty to signing up for the French Foregin Legion.”

To read more about Jonesy read the book Bury Us Upside Down. The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail. By Rick Newman, Don Shepperd · 2007, In hardcover paperback and Kindle