Page 61 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2018- Online Magazine

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Jones spent the rest of his service on the example to others.” Mission accomplished,
Karnes. His memories include running into Mr. Jones.
a friend on one of the islands and another
time “delivering a load of beer for the troops
on liberty.” He still remembers when the
ship “encountered a large typhoon and the
bow (of the ship) would rise up out of the
water and fall back down.” The Karnes also
took troops to Okinawa. J.D. remembers
that “two or three heavy cruisers were lined
up and the big guns were booming (lobbing
shells on the entrenched Japanese).” “I
saw Navy planes fly over the ships with
bombs underneath, and a Kamikaze plane
hit one of the ships. A little boat put smoke
around the big ships. I also saw a destroyer
chase a Japanese torpedo boat. Later, we R.D. found out about the Texas South
left Okinawa and headed for the Hawaiian Plains Honor Flight from a friend and
Islands to practice for the invasion of Japan. went on the 2014 flight. He enjoyed the
On the trip over, a coxswain and a radioman Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the
fell over the side and drowned.” When the
war ended in August 1945, “every ship horn changing of the guard.
went off in the Hawaiian Islands.” Married
men were allowed to go home; single men
were not so lucky. They were shipped out to Remember This:
Sasebo, Japan as part of the occupation.

R.D. was discharged in 1946. He took a train A Participatory Performance Experience
from San Francisco to Lubbock, then a taxi
to Brownfield, where he noted that his “folks Texas Tech’s Talkington College
were real glad to see me.” He began farming of Performing Arts, the School of
west of town. He met his future wife, Delma Theatre and Dance, the Department of
Jean, at a drugstore. They married in 1947. Psychological Sciences, the Alzheimer’s
He was 24; she was 15. They had three boys Association, and the CH Foundation
and two girls. One of his boys, Jerry, was
working on a water hole for horses, and he will host Remember This: A Participatory
fell in and died. Delma Jean died at the age Performance Experience. Created and
of 50 in 1982. R.D. later married Elizabeth produced by Genevieve DeCesaro and
Jo Jones in 1983, but he outlived her as well. Rachel Hirshorn-Johnston, it is designed
She died in 2005. to spotlight perceptions of dementia
and promote a larger and louder public
R.D. Jones has lived a full life, but the conversation about people living with
memories of his years sailing the Pacific are dementia as well as those who care for
still vivid. The Honor Flight helped bring them.
them all flooding back, making the trip
itself a new memory. He said, “I cried at the Consultants: Dr. Tyler Davis TTU
welcome home we received in Lubbock.” Dept. of Psychological Sciences and
When asked what he would like to be Dr. Annette Sobel TTU-Health Sciences
remembered for, he said “to be a good Center
For more information, please contact:
rachel.hirshorn@ttu.edu

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