Harold Jones

Harold R. Jones, 94, of 144 Springs Road, Bedford, PA, and formerly of Chambersburg, entered into transition at 7:00 PM Thursday, October 20, 2011 from his daughter’s home. Born May 18, 1917 in Fayetteville, he was the son of the late Crist and Ruth Ryder Jones. A graduate of the former Chambersburg High School, Harold served with the US Army as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific Theater during WWII. His elite and strictly volunteer unit played an integral role as the Allied forces tried to retake the Philippine Islands from the Japanese. Most notably, on February 23, 1945, in conjunction with Filipino guerillas, they parachuted into Los Banos prisoner of war camp liberating all 2,140 captives, while the unit suffered only one casualty. The rescue, one of the most successful rescue operations in modern military history, earned the unit the moniker “The Angels”. Harold was employed at the former H.J. Heinz Company in Chambersburg, retiring as Purchasing Manager in 1978. He was a member of Otterbein United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

Harold is survived by his loving wife Lorrayne Mummau Heffley Jones, whom he married in 1960; his daughter, Dr. Ruth Jones of Bedford; four step-sons, Melvin Heffley Jr. and wife Nancy of New Bloomfield, PA, Donald Heffley and wife Barbara of Stevens, PA, Ronald Heffley and wife Susan of Gordonsville, PA, and Dale Heffley and wife Nancy of Elizabethtown, PA; eight step-grandchildren; nineteen step-great-grandchildren; and a sister, Kathleen Isenberger of Bedford.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM Monday, October 24, 2011 in the Chapel of Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home, 333 Falling Spring Road, Chambersburg, PA. Rev. Raymond Short will officiate. Interment with military honors by members of the Charles Nitterhouse Post 1599 VFW Honor Guard will follow at Norland Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 PM Sunday and one hour prior to the service Monday at the funeral home.