Lloyd E. Jones

Lloyd E. Jones (June 17, 1889 – January 3, 1958) was a United States Army major general. He was prominent during World War II as commander of the 10th Mountain Division.
The son of the president of the University of Missouri, Jones attended the university while teaching school and serving in the Missouri National Guard. He served in the Philippines after receiving his Army commission in 1912. During World War I he was a trainer at two officers’ training camps, organized and temporarily commanded an Artillery brigade, and completed an advanced field artillery course in France.
After World War I, Jones graduated from the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College, and served in a variety of command and staff assignments, including professor of military science for the University of Missouri’s Reserve Officers' Training Corps program.
During World War II, Jones was promoted to brigadier general and commanded an Artillery brigade before serving in the Aleutian Islands Campaign as commander of the defense of Amchitka.
From July 1943 to November 1944 he commanded the 10th Mountain Division during its initial organization, training, and preparation for combat. During this command he was promoted to major general. After relinquishing command to George Price Hays, Jones served at the Army War College and Headquarters, Army Ground Forces until retiring in 1946.
In retirement, Jones was a resident of Columbia, South Carolina. He died there on January 3, 1958. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lloyd Edmonstone Jones was born in Columbia, Missouri on June 17, 1889. He was the son of Dr. John Carleton Jones (1856-1930), an educator who served as president of the University of Missouri, and Clara Field Thompson Jones (d. July 19, 1936).

Jones attended the University of Missouri while teaching school, and received a commission as a second lieutenant in Company G, 4th Regiment of the Missouri National Guard.

He left college in his junior year after passing the examination for a commission in the Army. He placed fifth of the 225 applicants who took the exam, and his high standing allowed him to choose his branch. He selected Field Artillery, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the 6th Field Artillery Regiment in December 1911.

He completed the Field Artillery Officer Course at Fort Leavenworth in 1912, and joined the 5th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Sill, where he remained until being posted to the Philippines with the 2nd Field Artillery in 1915.

At the start of World War I, Jones was a captain and served as an instructor at Officers Training Camps at the Presidio and in Leon Springs, Texas. He then served on the general staff at the War Department.

In 1918, Jones was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel and commanded 5th Field Artillery Brigade, 5th Division. He later served as a senior instructor for the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade at the Camp Jackson, South Carolina Artillery Replacement Training Center. Jones graduated from the Army Center of Artillery Studies in France, and returned to the United States in July 1919.

Jones was married to Elizabeth Heriot Rembert in 1919, and they were the parents of three children: John Carleton (a World War II veteran and Baltimore Sun reporter); Lloyd E., Jr. (a career Army officer); and daughter Anne.

After the war, Jones reverted to the permanent rank of captain. He was subsequently promoted to major, and his assignments included Professor of Military Science at the University of Missouri. He was also commander of the Field Artillery branch competitive pistol team, which took part in matches against Harvard University, West Point, the University of Oklahoma, and other schools.

In 1922, Jones authored a manual on field artillery techniques and procedures, Field Artillery Applied Mathematics. He later commanded 1st Battalion, 83rd Field Artillery Regiment. Jones was a 1924 graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, and a 1930 graduate of the Army War College.

Jones served in the plans, operations, and training directorate (G3) on the War Department General Staff from 1930 to 1934. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and served on the staff and faculty of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill from 1935 to 1938.

In the early years of World War II, Jones was promoted to colonel, and he was head of the R.O.T.C. programs in the Army’s VII Corps Area. In 1940 he was assigned as chief of staff for I Corps.

Jones was promoted to brigadier general in 1941, and assigned as commander of the 76th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Warren, Wyoming.

In 1943 he was commander of an Alaska Defense Command task force during the Landing at Amchitka and subsequent defense of the island as the United States retook the Aleutians from the Japanese, for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal.

From July 1943 to November 1944, Jones was commander of the 10th Infantry Division. He was the division’s first commander, and oversaw its initial organization and training in winter and high altitude operations at Camp Hale, Colorado prior to its departure for combat in Europe. In October 1943 he was promoted to major general.

When Jones fell ill with bronchitis, he was replaced as division commander by George Price Hays. For the rest of the war, Jones performed duty at the Army War College and at Headquarters, Army Ground Forces. He retired for disability on April 30, 1946.

Jones died in Columbia, South Carolina on January 3, 1958. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 30, Site 726.

In 1964 the newly constructed Army Reserve Center in Columbia, Missouri was named for him.

In March 2013, the 10th Mountain Division’s Range Operations Center at Fort Drum was named for him.