Three local brothers tell stories of serving their country together

HARLINGEN — Wartime is never easy. But three brothers, who grew up in Los Fresnos, found it a tiny bit easier on the same ship in the U.S. Navy together during the Vietnam War.

From oldest to youngest, Ebon, Malcolm and Philip Jones, sons of Milton and Ila Jones, found themselves together on the cruiser USS Boston (CAG-1) in July 1966.

The eldest brother, Ebon, had decided to enlist in the Navy as soon as he graduated from Los Fresnos High School.

When middle brother Malcolm — fondly referred to now as Malcolm in the middle, after the cancelled TV show — got his draft notice three years later, Ebon encouraged him to enlist under "brother duty" so he could be moved from the aircraft carrier he strongly disliked and finish his final year in the Navy aboard a ship with his brother.

The two older brothers were unaware that their youngest sibling, Phil, had also enlisted in the Navy. Malcolm discovered this while he was still in basic training. The two happened to meet, and hence, the three brothers all climbed aboard the Boston, a 673-foot-long ship, which was the nation’s first guided missile cruiser.

Perhaps this set their parents’ minds at ease, knowing that the three brothers were together. The Navy never even knew it had happened, and to the brothers’ knowledge, nothing like this has happened again in the history of the Navy, which did not find out about the situation until an article was printed in a military newspaper seven months later. The Navy, in fact, has a policy against brothers serving on the same vessel that was established after the ship that the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, were serving on was sunk in 1942, during World War II.

During their one-year tour together aboard the Boston, Malcolm and Phil were both barbers and Ebon was an interior communications technician. Ebon was responsible for certain technical aspects of the ship such as the PA system and the phone connections.

The brothers have many fun and scary stories to tell of their adventures at sea. They reminisced about watching movies below deck in the barbershop and charging 10 cents for popcorn. They joke about how Ebon always needed the bucket nearby when the ship was out at sea, which could be weeks at a time.

At one point, when it was only Malcolm and Phil on the ship, they experienced a typhoon. "You would have one foot on the ground, and then two on the wall," laughed Malcolm, who explained that his little brother thought it would be a good idea to go topside and see what it was like on the main deck.

No sooner did Phil get outside the door than he was holding on for dear life, and getting thrown about by the wind, water and waves. As soon as he could, Phil opened the door and came back inside soaking wet and determined not to go outside again anytime soon.

Trips to visit home in Texas were always interesting. The ship would make port in Hawaii where they could start taking their leave because they were back in the United States. From there they would fly into San Antonio, have dinner and make bets on who could hitchhike and make it home first.

Often one bother who had already gotten ride would pass by another brother sitting on the side of the road and make sure — just to win the bet — that the driver he was riding with did not stop.

Ebon was the first of the brothers to be discharged from the Navy and while his two brothers were still overseas, he went home to take up the family business, an auto air conditioning shop his father opened in 1957 in Harlingen. The business is still running as J&N Auto Air Conditioning Co., which now has two locations, the original shop in Harlingen and another McAllen that opened in 1990.

Ebon is now retired, and living in Harlingen. He serves on the board of directors of the Mobile Air Conditioning Society, of which his father was a founding member. MACS is a worldwide society that has more than 3,500 members.

Malcolm served 16 more years in the Navy after his initial four-year enlistment was up. A good deal of his time was spent in Charleston, S.C. His total time of service was 20 years, three months and 25 days. He retired as Senior Chief Machinist Mate. Currently, Malcolm is in charge of J&N Auto Air Conditioning in McAllen. Phil runs the branch of the business in Harlingen.

The brothers are still close and enjoy reminiscing about their time together serving their country.

Danielle Altenburg is a Valley freelance writer.