He joined the British Army on leaving school and, on graduation from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on 23 July 1960, was commissioned into the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment as a second lieutenant.

After a four-day search, the Garda Síochána confirmed that Nairac had been shot and killed in the Republic of Ireland after being smuggled over the border.

Jones' battalion was attached, alongside 3 PARA, to reinforce 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, the first major infantry formation to be sent south.

Spencer Fitz-Gibbon, a former TA Para officer and military theorist, wrote in 1995 that, despite his undoubted courage, Jones did more to hinder than to help 2 Para, losing sight of the overall battle picture and failing to allow his sub-unit commanders to exercise mission command, before his fatal attempt to lead "A" Company forward from the position where they had become bogged down.

The battle demonstrated the UK's increasingly unquestionable military superiority, quelling concerns about possible defeat, and led to the release of 112 civilians who had been imprisoned in the local community hall for the best part of a month.

In order to read the battle fully and to ensure that the momentum of his attack was not lost, Colonel Jones took forward his reconnaissance party to the foot of a re-entrant which a section of his Battalion had just secured.

Despite persistent, heavy and accurate fire the reconnaissance party gained the top of the re-entrant, at approximately the same height as the enemy positions.

Colonel Jones immediately seized a sub-machine gun, and, calling on those around him and with total disregard for his own safety, charged the nearest enemy position.

Thereafter the momentum of the attack was rapidly regained, Darwin and Goose Green were liberated, and the Battalion released the local inhabitants unharmed and forced the surrender of some 1,200 of the enemy.

The achievements of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment at Darwin and Goose Green set the tone for the subsequent land victory on the Falklands.

Jones' grave at Blue Beach War Cemetery is marked with a headstone engraved with the Parachute Regiment's insignia and that of the Victoria Cross.