Sgt. Jones entered the Army from New Mexico and served in Battery E, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment. His regiment arrived in the Philippines in September 1941, before the Pearl Harbor attack, and was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg on Clark Air Base. 

Following the Japanese invasion in December, the regiment was ordered to the Bataan Peninsula, where it joined other units holding a defensive perimeter. When U.S. forces surrendered on April 9, 1942, Jones was among those taken prisoner. He endured the Bataan Death March before being interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp. Conditions at Cabanatuan were harsh, marked by overcrowding, malnutrition, and disease. 

On July 28, 1942, Sgt. Jones died of malaria and was buried in a communal grave, designated Common Grave 215. After the war, the American Graves Registration Service recovered remains from Common Grave 215, but complications in the burial and recovery process prevented the identification of many individuals, including Jones. The unidentified remains from that grave were interred at the Manila American Cemetery.

Members of his family observed the military honors when Sgt. Jones was buried in the Portales Cemetery on September 16, 2026,