After World War I, Jones graduated from the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College, and served in a variety of command and staff assignments, including professor of military science for the University of Missouri's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program.

[6][8] By the time of the American entry into World War I, Jones was a captain and served as an instructor at Officers Training Camps at the Presidio of San Francisco and in Leon Springs, Texas.

[10] In 1918, Jones was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel and commanded the 5th Field Artillery Brigade, part of the 5th Division.

[11] Jones graduated from the Army Center of Artillery Studies in France, and returned to the United States in July 1919.

[2][20] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 1, 1935,[21] and served on the staff and faculty of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill from 1935 to 1938.

[21] In the early years of World War II, Jones, promoted to colonel on September 1, 1940,[21] and he was head of the R.O.T.C.

[22] Jones was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general on July 10, 1941,[21] and assigned as commander of the 76th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Warren, Wyoming.

[24][25] From July 1943 to November 1944, Jones, promoted to the temporary rank of major general on September 15, 1943,[21][26] was commander of the 10th Infantry Division.

[27] He was the division's first commander, and oversaw its initial organization and training in winter and high altitude operations at Camp Hale, Colorado prior to its departure for combat in Europe.

[13] They were the parents of three children: John Carleton (a World War II veteran and Baltimore Sun reporter);[32] Lloyd E. Jr. (a career Army officer); and daughter Anne.