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70 for 70: Purple Heart recipient Johnnie Jones landed on Normandy, helped shape the civil rights movement
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BATON ROUGE — Johnnie Jones was there at D-Day, wounded when he and other allied troops stormed Omaha Beach.
Nearly 80 years after he was wounded in battle, he was awarded the Purple Heart for his heroism in battle at the age of 101.
But Operation Overlord was one of many battles that defined Jones' life.
He also fought on the frontlines in the battle for justice and equality. Just 15 days out of law school, the Rev. T.J. Jemison recruited Jones in 1953 to help organize the eight-day bus boycott in Baton Rouge and defend the participants. They wanted seats on city buses, and they got them.
The boycott in Baton Rouge inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and became the model for the more famous Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott two years later.
Jones passed away in 2022 at the age of 102, leaving behind a life of well-fought victories.
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