Murphy Neal Jones Sr., a Baton Rouge native who endured more than 6½ years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam’s infamous “Hanoi Hilton,” died Thursday in Delaware. He was 81.
A football star at Baton Rouge High School who went on to play at Tulane University, Jones was a pilot when his Air Force F105-D fighter-bomber was struck by antiaircraft fire on June 29, 1966. Losing his battle to keep the jet airborne, Jones ejected only 300 feet from the ground, and his rough parachute landing left him with a shattered left arm, three fractured vertebrae, torn knee cartilage and shrapnel that infected his right leg.
Like many of his fellow POWs, who included the late Sen. John McCain, Jones was tortured often throughout his captivity. He was released in February 1973.
Jones received no medical treatment for the first 11 days in captivity and told a fellow POW he thought he was going to die. The prisoner advised him to pray hard.
“I guess that was the turning point, because I think up to that point I was starting to feel sorry for myself,” Jones said in a 1992 interview. “‘Why me?’ It was like he took a bucket of water and threw it in my face and said, “Wake up!’ I prayed that night, and I slept that night for the first time. It took a long time to get well, but I always knew I’d make it out afterward.”
After the war, Jones returned to Tulane and became a fundraiser for his alma mater, living in St. Tammany Parish until moving in 2018 with his wife, Glenda, to be close to his daughter, Darla Murphy, of Williamsport, Delaware. His health had deteriorated due to cystic fibrosis, said his brother, James Al Jones, of Baton Rouge. Murphy Neal Jones also is survived by four grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Louie A. Jones and Lulu Lacroix Jones; sister, Ann L. Jones; and son, Murphy Neal Jones Jr.
A date for his burial at Arlington National Cemetery has not been set, his brother said.
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