CASE SYNOPSIS: JONES, JOHN ROBERT

Name: John Robert Jones
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Task Force 1, Advisory Element, USARV TAG SUP; Headquarters USARV
Date of Birth: 20 February 1949 (Louisville KY)
Home City of Record: El Paso TX
Date of Loss: 05 June 1971
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164111N 1064346E (XD844455)
Status (in 1973): Presumed Dead
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident: Jon R. Cavaiani (released POW)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: In 1971, MACV-SOG's Command and Control North, Central and South were
redesignated as Task Force Advisory Elements 1, 2 and 3, respectively. These
titular changes had little initial impact on actual activities. Their missions
were still quite sensitive and highly classified. Each task force was composed
of 244 Special Forces and 780 indigenous commandos, and their reconnaissance
teams remained actively engaged in cross-border intelligence collection and
interdiction operations. The USARV TAG (Training Advisory Group) supported the
USARV Special Missions Advisory Group and was composed of U.S. Army Special
Forces and MACV advisors. SMAG formed at Nha Trang from former personnel from
B-53, the MACV Rcondo School cadre, CCN and CCS to train the South Vietnamese
Special Missions Force teams drawn from LLDB and Ranger units.

Task Force 1 Advisory Element was forced from its Hickory Hill radio relay site
at Dong Tri in early June 1971. The Hickory Hill post had existed on strategic
Hill 953, in northwest Quang Tri Province at the edge of the DMZ since June
1968. On June 3, heavy North Vietnamese artillery began battering the bunkered
Hickory Hill defenses.

On June 4, five wounded Special Forces and ten indigenous commandos were
medically evacuated, leaving SSgt. Jon R. Cavaiani and Sgt. John R. Jones with
23 commandos defending the mountaintop. At about 0400 hours on June 5, Jones
and Caviani were in a bunker when a hand grenade was dropped through the air
vent, wounding Sgt. Jones in the leg. Jones left the bunker, and was seen shot
in the chest by an NVA soldier.

An NVA battalion stormed the summit and captured Hickory Hill on June 5 in
adverse weather which prevented air support. In the bunker, Caviani played dead
as NVA soldiers came in looking for survivors. As his bunker was set on fire,
Caviani ran, burned, to another bunker. He spotted a helicopter and attempted
to signal it, serving only to alert the enemy to his position. Cavaiani was
captured as the last positions fell.

Later searches failed to turn up any sign of John R. Jones, dead or alive. He
is among nearly 2500 Americans still missing in Southeast Asia. There can be
little question that the enemy knows his fate, yet the Vietnamese deny
knowledge of him. Evidence mounts that hundreds of these men are still alive,
captive, waiting for their country to bring them home. One of them could be
John R. Jones.

Sgt. Jon R. Cavaiani was released by the Provisional Government of Vietnam on
March 27, 1973. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his attempt
to defend Hickory Hill.
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