posted 12-16-2004 12:43 PM               

By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 16, 2004; Page B06

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Vice Adm. Donald S. Jones, 76, the naval helicopter pilot who in 1969 plucked Apollo 11 astronaut Neil A. Armstrong from the Pacific Ocean after he returned from the moon, and who in 1986 was one of five Pentagon officials initially involved in the Iran-contra scandal, died of cancer Dec. 13 at the Essa Flory Hospice Center in Lancaster, Pa. He previously lived in McLean.

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More about Vice Adm. Jones from the U.S.S. Hornet Museum:

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While Commanding Officer of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Four (“The Black Knights”) he was asked to develop night and all weather astronaut recovery procedures for the Apollo program. As a result he was designated the recovery pilot for the most critical moon flights of Apollo VIII (first orbit around the moon) and Apollo X1 (first landing of men on the moon).

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