[3][4] In 2021, he received a Purple Heart, 77 years after he was injured by shrapnel during Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach in World War II.
[9][10] One of eight children, he was the son of lease cropping farmers Henry E. Jones (born December 5, 1876) and Sarah Ann Coats (also spelled Costes), and the paternal great-grandson of Emily Bowers, a formerly enslaved mixed-race African American passing as white.
[11] Jones served as a warrant officer responsible for leading a unit unloading equipment and supplies onto Omaha Beach.
[12][4] On June 26, 2021, the U.S. Army awarded Jones a Purple Heart, 77 years after he was injured by shrapnel injuries during the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach during World War II.
[5] The ceremony, held at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, was attended by various dignitaries including retired Lt. General Russel L. Honore, Joey Strickland, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and U.S.
Zion First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge minister and civil rights leader, recruited him to represent people arrested during the two-week Baton Rouge bus boycott, a precursor to the Montgomery bus boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr. During the Civil Rights movement, he leaped from his car before a Ku Klux Klan car bomb exploded.
[16][17][4] He successfully fought for pay equity for teachers; sued to desegregate local parks, pools, amusement centers, schools, and courtrooms; represented Southern University student-protesters during the Civil Rights movement; guarded the constitutional rights of indigent defendants; and challenged voter discrimination practices.