Army Staff Sgt. Raymond E. Jones Jr.

Died April 9, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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31, of Gainesville, Fla.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; killed April 9 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck him while on patrol in Bayji, Iraq.

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Father remembers Gainesville soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A soldier from Gainesville killed in Iraq believed in the military and “tried to do everything right,” his father said.

Army Staff Sgt. Raymond Edison Jones Jr., 31, was killed near Bayji, Iraq, on April 9 in a rocket-propelled grenade attack. He had been assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

“He was making a career out of it,” said Raymond Edison Jones Sr., who lives in Miami. He said his son will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Born in Carson City, Nev., Jones joined the Army in 1991 while a student at the University of Florida, his father said.

The soldier’s father said he is against the U.S. policy in Iraq.

“I wish they’d pull the rest of the kids out of there,” he said.

Jones’ mother, Olga, lives in Costa Rica with two of his three brothers. Another brother lives in Orlando. Jones’ wife lives in Germany and he has one daughter from a previous marriage, the father said.