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Technical Sergeant Glenn Wallace Jones

Picture of soldier
  • Unit: 20th Air Force, 497th Bomb Group, 870th Bombardment Squadron
  • Service Number: 19172637
  • Date of Birth: May 13, 1924
  • Entered the Military: December 15, 1942
  • Date of Death: June 6, 1945
  • Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Place of Death: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
  • Award(s): Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters
  • Cemetery: Court 7, Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi . Memory Grove Memorial, Salt Lake City, Utah
Contributed by Mrs. Julia Jane Winslow
Providence Hall Junior High School (Herriman, Utah)
2024/2025

Early Life

Glenn Wallace Jones was born on May 13, 1924, to Wallace Robertson Jones and Edith Self Jones in Salt Lake City, Utah. He grew up in a home on the southeast side of the city. His father, Wallace, worked as a driver for a dairy, while his mother, Edith, was a homemaker. Glenn was the youngest of three children. His sister Edith was ten years older than Glenn, and his older brother, Keith, was four years older. By 1930, Keith and Edith were in school, and the new South High School, where all three Jones children would later graduate, was nearing completion. Glenn entered Wittier Elementary School in the fall of 1930, at the age of five.

By the time Glenn began high school, the United States had already become involved in World War II. Glenn graduated from high school in 1942 and promptly enlisted in the military draft.

Glenn’s yearbook headshot for South High School, 1941. Ancestry.

Homefront

Salt Lake City, Utah, is a central transportation hub of the Intermountain West. It was founded by the Mormon Pioneers in 1847 and was designed with wide streets and basic infrastructure in mind.

During World War II, Salt Lake City became a hub for military supplies and training, providing much-needed employment for residents. The city’s location made it an ideal place for the logistical part of the war production. Salt Lake City was the most accessible city to reach all West Coast military centers promptly. Small arms and ammunition were manufactured at the Remington Small Arms Plant, located near the high school attended by Glenn and his siblings. 

At the time, it was known as the Utah Ordnance Depot. The personnel at this depot ensured that the troops fighting in the Pacific Theater of World War II had the necessary small arms and ammunition, including pistols, rifles, and billions of 30- and 50-caliber bullets. 

Just outside of Salt Lake City was Camp Kearns. This was a significant training center for soldiers preparing for deployment overseas in the U.S. Army Air Corps. This base focused on preparing the replacement troops headed to the Pacific to fight the Japanese forces. The base was a hive of activity, with many important political leaders and movie stars visiting. It also had the country’s largest dental facility at the time, and many residents worked there to help keep it running. 

Fort Douglas was situated on the east side of Salt Lake City, adjacent to the University of Utah. Shortly after the attack at Pearl Harbor, it was mobilized as a training base, a POW camp for Italians and Germans, and headquarters for the Ninth Service Command. The base housed the 7th Bombardment Group, which flew B-17 Flying Fortresses. 

With all of this military industry activity, Utah saw a significant increase in its population. This put a strain on housing and the public transit system. This strain helped expand housing possibilities and keep other military industrial stations, such as the Clearfield Navy Depot, Hill Field, and the Utah General Depot, operating. 

Soldiers loading trucks at Camp Kearns, 1943. United States Army.

Military Experience

Glenn Wallace Jones enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on December 15, 1942. The enlistment was for the duration of the war plus six months. Glenn entered the Army as a private and, by 1945, had advanced to the rank of technical sergeant.

Glenn was part of the 871st Bomb Squadron, 497th Bomb Group. The 871st Bomb Squadron, focusing on heavy bombing, was established in November 1943. Glenn was sent to Moffett Field in Santa Anna, California, for training in early 1943. From there, he participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands in January 1944. 

Glenn’s responsibility on the B-29 Superfortress was the Central Fire Control (CFC) or the “ring” gunner. He operated the sophisticated system that controlled and coordinated multiple turrets, aiming and firing them remotely from the central position within the plane. He sat in a raised position called the “barber chair” that was pressurized and much more comfortable than being in the turrets. He had to be able to maintain the electrical and mechanical computing devices to effectively utilize the multiple guns under his control. 

A photo of Glenn (first row, third from left) and his flight crew.

Commemoration

After serving over 30 missions, Jones and the rest of his crew took off from Kwajalein Island on June 6, 1944. They were on a ferry mission to Hickam Field, Oahu, Hawaiʻi. At takeoff, everything seemed routine until the plane suddenly dropped into the sea. Due to the hard impact, the aircraft broke into two parts at the wing section, and both segments sank within 30 seconds. This took place approximately 400 yards from the western runway of Kwajalein Island.

Search and rescue crews were immediately dispatched, and three crew members were recovered. However, Glenn was not among the survivors. He, along with eight other members of the crew, was designated lost at sea. Efforts to locate the crew members continued until June 12, when rescue operations were suspended. His father was notified that his son’s remains were not recoverable in July 1949. 

The American Battle Monuments Commission memorialized Glenn at the Honolulu Memorial, located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. He also has a memorial marker at Memory Grove Memorial Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Report of death for Glenn W. Jones, changing his status from Missing in Action to Killed in Action, June 27, 1945. National Archives and Records Administration.
After the war ended, remains of the unknown were compared with American servicemembers missing in action to determine if identifications could be made. In this case, the American Graves Registration Service asserted that they could not make identifications with any of the servicemembers on the list, including Glenn W. Jones. National Archives and Records Administration.
This plaque honors Technical Sergeant Glenn W. Jones at Memory Grove Memorial in Salt Lake City, Utah. Find a Grave.
Glenn W. Jones’s name on the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. American Battle Monuments Commission.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

“Clearfield Naval Supply Depot.” Weber State University Archives. Accessed December 18, 2024. https://exhibits.weber.edu/s/SC50/page/naval_supply. 

Glenn Jones. Official Military Personnel File (partial). National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Glenn Jones. Individual Deceased Personnel File. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

“Glenn W. Jones.” Salt Lake Tribune [Salt Lake City, UT], Sunday, June 24, 1945. Newspapers.com (159761846). 

Glenn Wallace Jones. Utah, U.S., Military Records, 1861-1970. Military Service Cards, ca. 1898-1975, Reel 080-Jolley Melton-Kawaratam. https://ancestry.com.

Glenn Wallace Jones. U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital image. https://ancestry.com.

“Howcroft’s Honored Reception After Marriage.” Deseret News [Salt Lake City, Utah], Monday, October 19, 1942. Newspapers.com (595223272). 

“Navy Depot Contractor Praises Utah.” Deseret News [Salt Lake City, UT], Wednesday, September 20, 1942. Newspapers.com (595220607).

“South High School.” Utah Division of Archives and Records Service. Accessed December 18, 2024. https://archives.utah.gov/research/entities/897/. 

South High School Yearbook. Salt Lake City School District, 1941.

Utah. Salt Lake County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.

“Youth Leaders Set Stage For ‘43 Garden Drive.” Salt Lake Tribune [Salt Lake City, UT], Monday, February 22, 1943. Newspapers.com (598663162). 

Secondary Sources

“497th Bombardment Group.” Army Air Corps Museum. Accessed March 2, 2025. https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/497th_Bombardment_Group.cfm.

“The Air Medal: An Effort to Bolster Morale.” National World War II Museum. Updated January 9, 2024. Accessed March 2, 2025. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/air-medal-effort-bolster-morale. 

Alexander, Thomas Gg. Alexander and Leonard Arrington. “Utah’s Small Arms Ammunition Plant During World War II.” Pacific Historical Review 32(no.2), May 1965: 185-196. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3636992.

Balls, Jami. “History of Fort Douglas.” Utah History to Go. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://historytogo.utah.gov/fort-douglas/.

Craven, Wesley Frank, Ed. The Army Air Forces in World War II. Office of Air Force History: 1983. https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329887/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-006.pdf

Davidson, Lee. 2011. “Camp Kearns: Documents Offer New Glimpse Into Life at Dismantled WW II Base.” Deseret News [Salt Lake City, UT], July 20, 2011. https://www.deseret.com/2008/7/20/20264931/camp-kearns-documents-offer-new-glimpse-into-life-at-dismantled-wwii-base/. 

Glazer, Aubrey. “The Utah’s Minutewomen.” Intermountain Histories. Accessed February 2, 2025.  https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/83?tour=8&index=4.

“Glenn W. Jones.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/jones%3Dglenn-0. 

“The Great Depression.” Utah History To Go. Accessed January 3, 2025. https://historytogo.utah.gov/great-depression/.

Hallet, Eileen. “Look Back: V-J Day, Salt Lake City became a ‘cauldron of unrestrained joy.’” The Salt Lake Tribune [Salt Lake City, UT], August 14, 2017. https://www.sltrib.com/news/look-back/2015/08/14/look-back-on-v-j-day-salt-lake-city-became-a-cauldron-of-unrestrained-joy/.

“Invasion of the Kwajalein Atolls.” Naval History and Heritage Command. Accessed March 2, 2025. https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-pacific/gilbert-marshall-islands-campaign/invasion-marshall-islands/invasion-kwajalein-atolls.html.

Krivido, Mike. “Operation Flintlock, The Invasion of the Marshall Islands, January-February 1944.” US Army. Updated February 1, 2024. Accessed March 2, 2025. https://www.army.mil/article/273394/operation_flintlock_the_invasion_of_the_marshall_islands_january_february_1944.

“A Look Back: Scenic Utah photos from the 1930s to 1960s.” Salt Lake Tribune [Salt Lake City, UT], December 16, 2011. https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=53124506&itype=CMSID.

Maurer, Maurer. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force World War II. Office of the Air Force History: 1982. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA128026.pdf.

“TSgt Glenn Wallace Jones.” Find a Grave. Updated June 19, 2014. Accessed March 2, 2025.  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131574773/glenn-wallace-jones.

“Topaz Museum Internment Camp.” Topaz Museum. Accessed February 2, 2025.  https://topazmuseum.org/. 

“Topaz National Historic Landmark.” Topaz National Historical Site. Accessed February 2, 2025.  https://cyark.org/projects/topaz/exhibit. 

“Utah Women on the World War II Home Front.” Utah Historical Society. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://history.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/K12_Utah-Women-on-the-WWII-Home-Front.pdf.

“World War II in Utah.” Utah History Encyclopedia. Accessed January 3, 2025. https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/w/WWII.shtml.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.