A former Acquisition Center director, Henry B. Jones, will be inducted posthumously into the U.S. Army Materiel Command Hall of Fame at a ceremony Oct. 27. He is one of six inductees selected from among 31 nominees for the 2015 class.
"Mr. Jones was respected by his workforce and was respected throughout the Army, the Department of Defense, as well as by the business organizations that TACOM dealt with," said Dan Mehney, who succeeded Jones as Acquisition Center director.
"He knew procurement and he knew leadership, and was a master at both," added Harry Hallock, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement and previous executive director of Army Contracting Command-Warren.
Jones was born in Murray, Kentucky, in 1921 and served for 37 of his approximately 50 years of federal service with the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command, now TACOM Life Cycle Management Command, in the field of procurement. He successfully served as a buyer, section chief, branch chief, division chief, special assistant to the commanding general of TACOM, deputy director of Procurement and Production, and director of the Acquisition Center.
As the senior procurement official for TACOM, Jones was the chief strategist and overseer of acquisition of the Army's ground combat and tactical vehicle fleet. During his career at TACOM, Jones actively participated in the initial acquisition of every post-World War II tank culminating with the M1 Abrams tank. In addition, he was instrumental in the acquisition of the M113 family of armored personnel carriers, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the entire line of the Army's modern wheeled vehicle fleet, to include the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
Jones is credited with planning the conversion of the Detroit Arsenal tank plant from a government owned and operated facility, to a government-owned and contractor-operated facility.
It was largely through his efforts that M60 tank production was transferred in 1959 from the Lenape tank plant in Maryland to the Detroit Arsenal tank plant. He was the chief architect of the highly economical, sophisticated multiyear contractual arrangements for weapons which have saved billions of dollars for the taxpayer.
Jones was a charter member of the Federal Government's Senior Executive Service and received numerous awards during the 1980s and early 1990s. On May 11, 1990, Jones was inducted into the Ordnance Hall of Fame at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
He passed away October 19, 2010, and is buried in Troy, Michigan.
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