Howard Jones knew the risk his adult son faced when he decided two months ago to join a group of foreign fighters serving alongside Ukraine’s armed forces in the country’s war with Russia.
“I had accepted it, you know, because it was something he felt so strongly about,” Howard Jones said of his son, Jeffrey.
When Jones got a call last week and the person on the other end asked if he was sitting down, he knew what would come next.
Jeffrey Judd Jones, a 48-year-old U.S. Army veteran who grew up in Bowdoinham, was killed while fighting alongside Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Photo courtesy of Howard Jones
Jeffrey Judd Jones, a 48-year-old Maine native and Army veteran, was killed July 31 by a mortar shell explosion near Bakhmut, in the eastern part of the country, an area largely occupied by Russian soldiers. The U.S. Embassy confirmed Jones’ death in an email to his father.
“It’s hard, of course, but it’s also an honor to Jeffrey to be talking about this because he felt so strongly about the U.S. continuing to support Ukraine,” Howard Jones said.
Jeffrey Jones grew up in Bowdoinham and graduated from Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham. He bounced around the country as an adult, his father said, but returned often to Maine, where the family has a seasonal home in Harpswell. Most recently, Jones was living with his father in Perry, Georgia.
He is survived by a wife, from whom he had separated, and an adult son, both of whom live in Brunswick.
Howard Jones and his wife, who died of breast cancer 15 years ago, adopted Jeffrey when he was 10. Howard Jones said his son expressed interest in joining the military at a young age but waited about five years after he graduated high school before enlisting in the U.S. Army.
He went through basic training and then was assigned to an airborne division, but was injured early on and honorably discharged.
MILITARY CAREER DERAILED
“That had a significant impact, because he wanted to make a career of it,” Howard Jones said.
Jeffrey Jones came back to Maine, where his parents lived and his father was a longtime nuclear engineer at Maine Yankee in Wiscasset, which closed in 1996. The son worked at a candle factory in Topsham and at a window manufacturer in Portland before living in Boston for a few years.
Throughout much of his adult life, Jeffrey Jones traveled the country and stayed in different places for long stretches, his father said.
Jeffrey Jones, days before his death near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Howard Jones
About 10 years ago, he got involved with Spartan races, which are competitive obstacle courses popular with veterans. On one of those races, he met a friend who was hiking the Camino de Santiago in Portugal, a pilgrimage popular with many Christians. On that hike, he met others who were doing humanitarian work.
In the early part of the pandemic, Jones was back in Maine and working at Abbott Labs in Westbrook, his father said. He was looking to travel, though, and remembered the humanitarians he had met and who were primarily based in Poland.
It was right around the time Russian troops were mobilizing to invade Ukraine.
“He became very interested in what was happening over there,” Howard Jones said.
His son first traveled to Poland in 2022 and worked with humanitarian groups near Krakow – mostly as a medic assisting refugees who were fleeing Ukraine.
That trip was cut short, the father said, when his son was injured. Jones was struck on the head by a piece of wall that had exploded during artillery fire.
“The doctor said if he didn’t have his helmet on, he’d be dead,” his father said.
‘HE NEEDED TO CONTRIBUTE’
Jones came back to the U.S., although it was clear he wanted to return overseas to assist the Ukrainians. He went back in April but felt he was being underused by the humanitarian organization, so he joined a group of foreign fighters, most of whom were from South America, his father said. He was the oldest of the small group of 48. They called him “grandpa.”
Although the U.S. has not deployed any service members to Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia in February 2022, some American volunteers have chosen to fight alongside Ukraine’s armed forces. A Washington Post story from late May said that as many as 16 Americans had died defending Ukraine.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told CNN that two more Americans died in Ukraine on July 29 and another U.S. citizen died on July 31, which corresponds with Jones’ death.
A few days before his death, Jones sent an email to his father. He had returned from a mission with a bunch of other military groups and was supposed to have a few days off.
“But then I learned his group had volunteered to go into an area (near Bakhmut) that Ukraine was trying to recapture,” Howard Jones said. “I know from the conversations I had with him that he would volunteer for things even though it increased his risk.”
Asked why his son took those risks, Howard Jones paused for several moments.
“I think he may have looked at his life and reflected and decided he needed to do something more, that he needed to contribute,” the father said. “He talked so much about protecting Ukrainians and the children, in particular. He felt it was honorable even though it wasn’t his country.”
Howard Jones said the family chose to have his son cremated. There are a lot of paperwork and procedures when someone dies, he said, but the remains are set to be returned by plane to Bangor next month.
He doesn’t know if his son will be eligible to be greeted by U.S. military, but Jones plans to gather friends and family who might be willing to be there when his son is back on American soil.
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