Southeast
Georgia WWII hero's grave inspires songwriter ballad decades after soldier killed in combat
FIRST ON FOX: A World War II hero from backwoods Georgia inspires Americans today even from the grave.
The story of U.S. Army PFC Ervin O. Jones is worthy of a song.
Craig Gleason, a Georgia songwriter, penned “The Ballad of Ervin O. Jones” in 2014, after he and his daughter came across the soldier’s headstone in a churchyard cemetery in the city of Alpharetta.
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“It’s a powerful story, man. It’s powerful,” Gleason said Sunday in a telephone interview with Fox News Digital.
Gleason, in turn, teaches the art of songwriting to struggling veterans who attend Warrior Week each month at Camp Southern Ground in Fayetteville, Georgia.
U.S. Army PFC Ervin O. Jones of Alpharetta, Georgia, was just 20 years old when he was killed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Seven decades later, his Georgia gravestone inspired musician Craig Gleason to write “The Ballad of Ervin O. Jones.” (Jones Family/Craig Gleason)
Grammy Award-winning musician Zac Brown founded the camp in 2011. Gleason is a former coordinator for the Nashville Songwriters Association.
Gleason looked at a church cemetery near his home in Alpharetta as an opportunity to learn about, and teach his daughter, then aged 12, about local history.
“When you homeschool your children, you use real-life experiences, every place you go and everyone you meet, as a learning experience,” said Gleason.
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It’s the same skill used by songwriters to take everyday experiences and interpret them for others through the human gift of music.
“I told Audrey, you can learn a lot from these tombstones.”
The Gleasons found out about a hometown hero buried in their midst. Along the way, they earned a lesson about the grief that grips a family decades after wartime loss.
U.S. Army PFC Ervin O. Jones of Alpharetta, Georgia, was just 20 years old when he was killed during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. His gravestone inspired musician Craig Gleason to write “The Ballad of Ervin O. Jones.” (Jones Family/Craig Gleason)
PFC Jones was just 20 years old when he was killed on the island of Ieshima during the Battle of Okinawa on April 17, 1945, as Americans forces closed in on the home islands of Imperial Japan.
Gleason was haunted by the grave and was moved to write about the soldier. But he wanted to know the real story about the young man resting under the headstone near his home.
He soon learned that PFC Jones’ younger brother, Curtis, was still alive and living nearby, in Canton, Georgia.
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“Curtis was living in a little trailer out in the woods and I knocked on his door and introduced myself,” said Gleason. “I said, ‘I’m writing a song about your brother Ervin’ and asked if we could talk.”
He added, “Curtis was like old-school backwoods Georgia. Real salt of the Earth. He invited me in and for the next three or four hours in his living room he pulled out artifacts, pictures and an old guitar that Ervin owned.”
Turns out that Gleason and the forever-young dirt-poor Georgia farmboy shared the gift of music.
Curtis Jones, now deceased, lived his adult life with the pain of his older brother’s death during World War II. PFC Ervin O. Jones was killed on the Japanese island of Ieshima on April 17, 1945. (Jones Family/Craig Gleason)
“We laughed and cried, and by the end I felt like I had become part of that family within just a few hours.”
Among other things, Gleason learned that the former stranger, PFC Jones, died a hero.
“His courage and aggressiveness in this action was truly an inspiration to the officers and men in his company,” his commanding officer, Capt. William B. Cooper, wrote in July 1945, in a letter addressed to the soldier’s mother, Jennie.
(Here’s the song below, embedded with permission from Craig Gleason, creator and copyright owner.)
One of Gleason’s most painful discoveries was that Jones’ parents never fully coped with the overwhelming grief they suffered upon learning of their son’s death.
“Granny Jennie and Papa Harmon never mentioned Ervin, and we visited them every Sunday until they passed,” PFC’s nephew and his wife, John and Judy Jones, said via text message on Sunday.
“American patriots and war heroes, much like songs, grow from the most humble circumstances.”
“The pain of the loss of their firstborn son Ervin never went away and they grieved until they died.”
Gleason learned one other lesson — a powerful lesson he said he tries to pass on to aspiring musicians, veterans, everyday Americans and the people for whom he performs “The Ballad of Ervin O. Jones.”
He learned that American patriots and war heroes, much like songs, grow from the most humble circumstances.
Army PFC Ervin O. Jones was killed on April 17, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa. His Georgia grave inspired musician Craig Gleason to write “The Ballad of Ervin O. Jones” seven decades later. (Jones Family/Craig Gleason and Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
He writes, and sings, in the last lines of the ballad: “From the lowlands to the highlands / Across every stick and stone / Came heroes who gave and lost their lives / Heroes like Ervin O. Jones.”
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Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law, said Saturday she is removing herself from consideration for Florida Republican Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
“After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” she wrote on X Saturday.
The president-elect has nominated Rubio to be secretary of state.
“I could not have been more honored to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I’m truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida,” Lara Trump added.
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Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law, said Saturday she is removing herself from consideration for Florida Republican Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, the president-elect’s son, stepped down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee earlier this month.
” I have read so many of your kind messages and I cannot thank you enough,” Lara Trump said, adding she has a “big announcement that I’m excited to share in January.”
She said she remains “incredibly passionate about public service and (looks) forward to serving our country again sometime in the future. In the meantime, I wish Governor DeSantis the best of luck with this appointment.”
The president-elect had previously pressed DeSantis to name Lara as Rubio’s replacement, a source in his political orbit told Fox News Digital, but he later told reporters he didn’t necessarily expect him to select her.
The president-elect has nominated Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“That’s his choice,” the president-elect added.
Rubio’s senate replacement will be appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and will serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.
In 2026, the seat will be open for a full six-year term.
Lara Trump is married to President-elect Trump’s son, Eric Trump. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Lara Trump had previously said she was “seriously considering” the position, although she wasn’t sure it was right for her.
DeSantis previously said he would make an appointment by early January.
Lara Trump did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Florida driver hits student with her truck, covers license plate before fleeing, deputies say
A Florida woman was arrested after she allegedly struck a teenager who was crossing the road with her truck, covered her license plate and sped off.
Sarah Wright, 37, was arrested Thursday and charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injuries and driving with a suspended license.
The crash happened shortly before 4 p.m. at the intersection of Gage Avenue and Noah Street in Deltona, Florida, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim, a 16-year-old boy, was riding his scooter home from Pine Ridge High School when he was struck by a black Chevrolet Silverado as he was using the crosswalk, the sheriff’s office said.
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Sarah Wright, 37, is facing charges of leaving the scene of a crash with injuries and driving with a suspended license. (Flagler County Jail)
The teenager fell to the ground, resulting in a serious laceration to the back of his head as well as an arm injury, but he remained alert and conscious after the incident.
A witness reported that she was checking her mailbox nearby when she heard the crash. She told investigators that the suspect, later identified as Wright, exited her truck after the crash and checked on the boy before she went back to her vehicle and covered her license plate with paper and tape.
But the witness still managed to see the first character of her tag. A neighborhood Ring camera also captured the truck fleeing the scene.
A witness managed to see the first character on the truck’s tag and a neighborhood Ring camera captured the vehicle fleeing the scene. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office)
The victim and the witness were also able to provide a detailed description of the suspect.
Officials were then able to locate a suspect vehicle captured on a nearby License Plate Reader camera within minutes.
Wright was found in Flagler County and taken into custody with assistance from Florida Highway Patrol and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
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Sarah Wright was booked into the Flagler County Jail on a $3,500 bond. (iStock)
She was booked into the Flagler County Jail on a $3,500 bond.
The teenage victim required staples for the laceration and treatment for his arm injury, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
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A child was hospitalized on Saturday after being hit by a drone that was part of an Orlando, Florida holiday drone show.
According to the Orlando Fire Department, a 7-year-old boy was transported to the hospital because of injuries sustained from the falling drones, FOX 35 in Orlando reported.
In a video posted online by X user MosquitoCoFl, hundreds of drones being used as part of an aerial light show appeared to be flying into position before several started falling from the sky before slamming to the ground.
A man could be heard saying to children nearby, “Oh no! I don’t believe they’re supposed to be falling.”
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Several drones malfunctioned during a drone show in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, sending the unmanned aerial objects crashing to the ground. (Credit – X/MosquitoCoFL)
Geese also appear on the water, flapping their wings to try and get out of the way of the chaotic scene.
City officials told the station the holiday drone show was permitted by the FAA.
Still, after one drone show went wrong, the city chose to cancel the second that night at 8 p.m. due to “technical difficulties.”
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Several drones malfunctioned during a drone show in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, sending the unmanned aerial objects crashing to the ground. (Credit – X/MosquitoCoFL)
The FAA told Fox News Digital it will investigate the cause of the drone show malfunction.
“Several small drones collided and fell into a crowd during a holiday drone show over [Eola] Lake in Orlando, Florida,” the FAA said. “The incident occurred around 6:45 p.m. local time on Saturday, December 21.”
According to the agency, drone arrays and light shows are subject to FAA regulations and typically require a waiver to a regulation that prohibits operating more than one drone at a time.
For each drone show application, the FAA looks at things like the software controlling the drones, procedures for setting up safe and restricted areas to keep people a safe distance from the show, procedures if drones fail, and procedures for when an aircraft gets too close to the show.
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Several drones malfunctioned during a drone show in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, sending the unmanned aerial objects crashing to the ground. (Credit – X/MosquitoCoFL)
Additionally, the FAA reviews how the operator will keep the drones inside a confined area using Geofencing, and whether the operator has an adequate number of people to run the show.
For the second year, the City of Orlando used Sky Elements Drones as its vendor to operate the drones, the station reported.
Sky Elements Drones did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.
In a statement to Fox 35, the vendor said, “Sky Elements Drones wants to extend our sincere hope for a full and speedy recovery to those impacted at our Lake Eola show in Orlando on Saturday, Dec. 21.
“The well-being of our audience is our utmost priority, and we regret any distress or inconvenience caused,” the company continued. “We are diligently working with the FAA and City of Orlando officials to determine the cause and are committed to establishing a clear picture of what transpired. Millions of people see our shows annually, and we are committed to maintaining the highest safety regulations set forth by the FAA.”
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