During his first trip overseas to aid Ukraine, Jeffrey Judd Jones was pulled into a rally in Poland supporting Ukraine’s efforts in the war against Russia.
He arrived in early April 2022, and he was working with volunteers from around the world to help refugees fleeing the conflict, primarily women and children. Jones gave out supplies and directed people through a train station near Kraków, though the language barrier sometimes made it difficult.
“We’re going to do our best to save all your people,” he told the crowd in a Facebook video that he shared April 21, 2022. “I’m just one person, but I could not stay home and sit on the couch while this happened.”
When he was finished speaking, a woman grabbed the microphone.
“You are our hero,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
Jones died July 31, during a mortar shell explosion near the eastern city of Bakhmut. He had fought with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion since June. His father, Howard Jones, received confirmation that he was killed in action from the United States Embassy in Kyiv.
Jeffrey Jones, 48, was born in Lewiston and grew up in Bowdoinham. He lived in Perry, Georgia, before traveling to Ukraine as a volunteer twice since Russian forces invaded the country in February 2022. He was a United States Army veteran.
Howard Jones and his late wife, Earline, adopted him when he was 10 years old. Jeffrey Jones’ father described him as dedicated, passionate and helpful to his friends. If he set his mind to something, he would do it, his father said.
“I tried to convince him to stay in safer areas, like in Poland where he could do humanitarian work,” said Howard Jones, who lives part-time in Harpswell and the rest of the year in Perry, Georgia. “He tried, but he wanted to do more. He saw refugees crossing the border and destruction in Ukraine’s cities. It kept haunting him.”
Jeffrey Jones is survived by his estranged wife and adult son in Brunswick, along with several siblings and other loved ones.
His ashes will be brought to Bangor later this month. Family members are still deciding how to properly honor his life, but it’s likely that a gathering will be held for his loved ones.
Jeffrey Jones occasionally shared his experiences on Facebook, like on May 27, 2022, when he wrote that Russian missiles struck a training base where he was working and killed dozens of people. He had received training to work with a team of volunteer medics that aided wounded soldiers and transported them to safety.
He had lived in Ukraine for about a month at that point, during which he saw “countless wounded people and injuries that shake you to your core,” he wrote.
A wall collapsed and fell onto Jeffrey Jones during an artillery strike, landing him in a Ukrainian hospital for five days to treat his concussion, Howard Jones said. He returned to Georgia in July 2022 to recover and take a break from the war.
But it was less than a month before Jeffrey Jones talked about going back. In April 2023, he traveled again to Ukraine — this time with the intention of putting his skills as an Army veteran and Spartan Race competitor to better use.
Jeffrey Jones volunteered with the nonprofit American Ukrainian Foundation, where he helped with the processing of food, pet supplies and medical donations. But he felt that he would be more helpful on the frontlines, Howard Jones said.
“He was looking for a sense of purpose in his life,” he said, possibly because of his traumatic childhood and strained relationships in his life. “He told me multiple times that he wanted to stay in Ukraine after the war to help rebuild.”
Jeffrey Jones joined the U.S. Army when he was in his early 20s, and after completing basic training, he worked with the airborne division, where he parachuted out of planes. He was soon discharged due to a physical limitation, Howard Jones said.
“He was disappointed that he was not able to continue,” he said. “It probably was a passion that he felt he needed to fulfill.”
During the pandemic, Jeffrey Jones worked at Abbott Laboratories in Westbrook, one of the country’s largest producers of COVID-19 test kits. Before that, he held a manufacturing job in Biddeford. He moved to Georgia in early 2022 and lived with his father before going overseas.
Jessie Judd, his half-sister who lives in Portland, knew that Jeffrey Jones was spending time in unsafe regions of Ukraine but she didn’t expect his story to end this way. They didn’t grow up together but became closer in recent years, and he was one of the bravest people she had ever known, she said.
“He would tell me how much he missed and loved me and my daughter, who he would call Peanut,” she said. “We would tell him that we were praying for his safe return.”
The details surrounding Jeffrey Jones’ death are unclear, though his father pieced together that his squad of about eight men was looking forward to a few days of rest when their plans changed. Another company was too afraid to go to the frontline, forcing them to join the fight again, he wrote on July 31.
“I suspect that Jeff’s squad not only volunteered for a mission other squads were too afraid to do, but that Jeff was in the lead, taking the most risk,” Howard Jones wrote on Facebook. “Others have survived as a result of Jeff’s sacrifice.”