East Cobb Senior Receives Bronze Star for WWII Service

A resident of an East Cobb senior living facility has been awarded a medal of gallantry nearly 70 years after he earned it in the snowy fields of Germany during World War II.

Dale E. Jones is now a 100-year-old resident of the Parc at Piedmont community, but back in 1945 he was a 29-year-old private first class in the 78th Infantry Division, the Marietta Daily Journal reports. Pfc. Jones was a replacement soldier who found himself in the middle of the Hurtgen Forest campaign during February of 1945, the MDJ said.

On Feb. 23, outside a little village called Kommerscheidt, Jones and his buddies were standing in a field under orders not to take cover, in an effort to draw out German soldiers who were holed up in the village. Everyone involved in the mission was killed or wounded, including Jones, who was shot in the abdomen. Thankfully, the bullet missed all of Jones’ organs.

For his “meritorious achievement in active ground combat against the enemy,” Jones was awarded the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, said the MDJ. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy authorized all holders of the badge who earned it during World War II to upgrade it to the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest award an individual soldier can earn.

Jones learned of the change only recently from a fellow Piedmont Parc resident. Jones then told his son, who asked the Department of Defense to upgrade his father’s medal, and to make it quick.

Pfc. Jones received his Bronze Star on Friday, according to the MDJ.