Re: Airman May Finally Rest in Peace

Date: March 21, 2004

"Now airman can finally rest in peace

Man's remains buried in San Bruno 37 years after he was shot down over Laos, went missing

By David Burger, STAFF WRITER

For the second time in her life, Marian Jones listened to a bugler play "Taps" for her husband as he was laid to rest.

Finally, she, too, might find some rest.

A full military burial, complete with a 21-gun salute and Air Force jets flying overhead in the "missing man formation," was held Friday to honor Col. Louis Farr Jones, a fighter pilot who was shot down over Laos in 1967.

His widow and two children attended a memorial service for him in 1973, complete with honor guard and folded flags, but on Friday there was a difference.

This time, his remains were in the solid hardwood casket lowered into the ground at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno on a cloudless, sunny afternoon.

"It's finally a finality," said Watsonville's Jones, who is 77 and never remarried. "There's been so many years, and so much has happened."

Jones was a 41-year-old colonel in the U.S. Air Force 558th Tactical Fighter Squadron when his F-4C Phantom II aircraft was hit by ground fire during an interdiction strike on Nov. 29, 1967. According to the Air Force Report of Casualty, the plane went into a flat spin and crashed. Since then, the Air Force had wavered between listing his status as missing in action or killed in action.

Initial disbelief

Initially told that her husband could not have survived, Marian didn't believe it. "There was no proof for a long time," she said, and added that he had survived a similar incident in the Korean War when he was shot down behind enemy lines but ejected safely.

According to records from the Air Force, Jones' status was changed, and he was listed as missing in action until July 9, 1974, when Air Force headquarters received evidence that they said was proof he could not have survived.

Human remains were located near the old Ho Chi Minh trail in 2000, and once they were repatriated from Laos, they were sent to Hawaii for authentication. They were recently certified by the Air Force to be Jones' bone and tooth fragments.

Jones' remains were accompanied from Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii by his 27-year-old grandson Jeremy on March 10. Jones' widow said that while she still has doubts over the authenticity of the remains -- no DNA tests were done by the government -- she wanted the second ceremony for the benefit of her grandchildren, who she says idolize both her late husband and her brother, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

In addition, Col. Jones was a Baptist minister, and his 46-year-old son Jonathan wanted him to have a Christian burial Jonathan was 9 when his father disappeared in Laos, and his sister was 12.

Proud to be Americans

Throughout the years, Marian battled the Air Force over investigations that she said sometimes were done too hastily. But 37 years after her husband -- her college sweetheart from Texas Tech University -- was shot down over the jungle, she said she always told her family to be proud to be Americans.

"Seven branches of my family fought in the Revolutionary War," she said. "In the Civil War, my mother's family fought for the North and my father's family fought for the South. No one can question that I'm a patriot."

Her entire family gathered around the casket during the 1 p.m. graveside service, and once again, Marian received a hardwood case that will carry another folded American flag.

For her, there can never be too many flags.

Staff writer David Burger can be contacted at (650) 348-4329
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