Norwich graduate's service includes handing out hope
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Norwich student George Jones grew up during a war in Liberia and understands the hopes and fears of those caught in the middle of it. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Times Argus |
Toolbox
By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: May 17, 2010
NORTHFIELD – George Jones has a lot of war stories. The one about the Nintendo is his favorite.
It was 2003 and Jones was part of the first wave of U.S. Marines to land in Iraq. He was patrolling the streets, rifle at the ready, when a little boy caught his eye.
“I could tell he was scared, and I'm thinking to myself, ‘How can I help this kid? How can I make that kid think different? How can I make his life easier?'” Jones says.
Jones gave the boy his Nintendo Game Boy, the one he brought to kill downtime during his five-month combat tour in the desert.
“I walked up to the kid and said ‘here you go. Take this, it's for you.' And I see that smile light up,” Jones says. “I rubbed his head, and it didn't take long to push out of town, but I knew I made that little kid's life a little better in that town.”
It sounds like a sappy cliché, until you learn that George Jones was a child of war himself.
Jones, 34, was one of about 400 students to receive college diplomas from Norwich University Sunday. The sunny Northfield campus was a long way from the bloody streets of Liberia, where Jones came of age during a Civil War that killed more than 200,000 people, including his grandfather and uncle.
The unimaginable violence Jones witnessed as a teenage boy in his native country, he says now, shaped the U.S. Marine he's become.
“I know what it's like not to have three meals a day, to sometimes only have one. I know what it's like to have your life threatened, although you're innocent,” says Jones, who lives in East Barre with his wife and three young children. “I understand the children of these wars, because I was one of them.”
Jones was 13 when anti-government forces, led by Charles Taylor, invaded Liberia in late 1989. During the civil war that ensued, Jones frequently had to change locations and identities to avoid capture and execution by foot soldiers in the warring factions.
Jones' father, little sister and older brother sought to flee the country on a Nigerian ocean liner headed to Sierra Leone. They boarded trucks bound for what they were told was a safe haven in Freeport. In fact the convoy was turned over to forces controlled by Taylor's army.
“My uncle, he was picked out of the group. They executed him on the rebel base,” Jones says.
Jones and his siblings escaped the stronghold, disappearing into Freeport and assuming different last names to veil their tribal affiliations.
Jones talked his way out of his own execution, convincing a band of neighborhood rebels that he was not a member of the ethnic group they were out to kill (though he was). Eventually, aided by friends of Jones' father, Jones and his family found safe passage to Sierra Leone.
He arrived in the United States as part of the Refugee Resettlement Program when he was 18. Four years later, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2002, he became a U.S. citizen.
Even small acts of humanity in brutal war zones, Jones says, leave their mark. During his three military deployments, he's tried to leave his.
“When I went to Iraq, I knew what the mission was. I never lost track of that,” Jones says. “I never forgot if something goes wrong, I have to be ready to fight.”
But he knew things other Marines did not.
“At age of 13, I'd already seen bodies. I had seen little kids killed. I had smelled the fresh scent of blood, seen someone shot and killed,” he says.
The future of war-torn countries, Jones says, lies in the hands of the children who witnessed the atrocities. Acts of kindness from strangers in Liberia, he says, combined with unwavering faith in God and guidance from his father, helped him overcome the overwhelming urge to avenge the deaths of his relatives.
“A lot of kids see that nightmare happening before them right now,” he says. “And I always know the mission, but I'm always thinking, how can I make that kid smile? Because I was that kid. I know what it's like not to carry the gun, to be the non-combatant.”
Armed with military-issued packages of prepared food, toothbrushes, or anything else handy, Jones tries to make friends. He gave one barefoot Iraqi boy his shower shoes.
“I have big feet and I know there's no way these shoes are going to fit, but at least his feet won't be hot,” Jones says. “I was the kid that got helped when I was 13 years old. And now I'm trying to give that memory to someone else. Maybe that little kid remembers that American that gave him food or games. And maybe it's a positive influence on his life.”
Jones' four-year stay in Vermont will come to a close soon. He plans to get a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps by September, after which he'll move on to his next military assignment.
But he hopes he's left his own mark on younger Norwich Cadets, about 100 of whom will join Jones as Class of 2010 officers in the U.S. military.
“This has been great here, especially the opportunity to work with cadets, to help mold them,” he says. “These are some of the same people who could be my company commander, and it's good to help influence them to make a difference.”
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