Flags will line Pearl Harbor sailor's route to cemetery
The calls and emails have been coming in for Tom Simpson this week, and he's happy to receive them.
"I think it's great. It is nice that all these different organizations are coming together," said Simpson, a funeral director at Karrer-Simpson Funeral Home in Port Huron. "He definitely deserves as nice a service as we can put together for him. He made the ultimate sacrifice, he died in a war he really didn’t even know he was in."
Simpson is handling the funeral of Fred M. Jones, who died aboard the USS Oklahoma nearly 76 years ago during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Navy recently identified his remains.
Since news broke of Jones' burial planned for 1 p.m. May 20, several organizations have volunteered to escort the casket and the family from the airport to Lakeside Cemetery.
The funeral home will be supplying American flags to the those in the community who want to line the procession from the funeral home to Lakeside Cemetery. The route will begin at the funeral home, 1720 Elk St., Port Huron, then head east on Thomas Edison Drive, north on Thomas Edison Parkway, west on Elmwood Street, then north on Gratiot Avenue and west on Holland Avenue to enter the cemetery.
Parking is available at Holland Woods Middle School and Lakeside Beach, Simpson said. Parking at the cemetery will be limited and is reserved for family and veterans.
Simpson said flags will be available for pickup at the funeral home beginning Monday.
Dick Thompson of Clyde Township plans to be there. The 70-year-old read about Jones and said it is wonderful he was finally being buried.
But then something caught his eye. Jones will be buried next to his sister, Neta Jones Thompson Amis — Thompson's paternal grandmother.
"Wonderful that they finally identified who he was, but it shocked me to see my grandmother's name," Thompson said.
Jones will be buried on his family plot in Section O, which is the most northeast portion of the cemetery, bound by Gratiot Avenue and the Black River Canal.
Jones, a machinist mate first class, was 30 when he died. He enlisted in the Navy April 1, 1929.
Michael Lawson, the 10th District commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and the director of the American Legion Riders from Post 449 of Marysville, was among those who reached out.
"He needs to be honored," Lawson said. "The community needs to remember, and that's why we do this, so people remember, and I hate to use a cliche ... but freedom isn't free."
The federal government has an ongoing effort to account for all Americans listed as prisoners of war or missing in action, according to the Navy. In 2015, the Secretary of Defense approved the disinterment of the USS Oklahoma to attempt to identify the dead.
Jones was followed in death by his wife, Helen Jones Lamb, father, Felix Jones of North Lake; a son, Jon Jones; a brother, Norman Jones; and a sister, Neta Jones Thompson Amis, according to his obituary. He is survived by a daughter, Leilani Ronningen, a granddaughter, Helen Kellie Cosner, two great-grandchildren, Danielle Lee Tyler and Chrystal Leanne Sperry, and great great grandson Taylor and great granddaughter Leanna Sperry, all of Seattle, Washington; and a grandniece, Sue Nichols of Burton, Michigan.
Jones was awarded the Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal and the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal with one engagement star, according to the Navy.
A prior version of this story stated the family was asking supporters to meet at the cemetery. Simpson said a new plan was formulated Wednesday.
Contact Liz Shepard at (810) 989-6273 or lshepard@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lvshepard.