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| Photo Credit: Newsweek. |
Comrades who fought alongside 24-year-old Joshua Alan Jones from Memphis, Tennessee said the volunteer who was killed in fighting with Russian forces was a front-line “tactical Jesus,” Newsweek reported.
Jones
described as a devout Christian had served with the U.S. Army for three years
before joining Ukrainian patriots to defend their homeland from the invading
Russian Army, according to Newsweek. He quickly became known as “Jesus” in
Ukraine because of his bearded and long-haired appearance.
Ukrainian
soldiers now wear patches of Jones on their uniforms following his passing on.
"We
started calling him tactical Jesus. Just because I mean, dude, he was
handy," TJ, a friend and fellow American volunteer who spent five months
with Jones fighting to defend Ukraine, told Newsweek in a phone interview from
Kharkiv.
"He was
real handy. So he was really good at like, CQB [Close Quarters Battle] clearing
rooms and stuff like that. So he was just a tactical dude. And he looked like
Jesus. So, Jesus."
When was Jones "tactical Jesus" killed?
On the night
of August 22, Joshua Alan Jones was killed in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region,
according to Newsweek.
The patches
of Jones were handed out at a memorial held in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on
September 3 in the Donbas region.
"A lot
of guys are wearing them all across the front. They were made based on that he
looks like Jesus and always threw up the peace sign in pictures," TJ said,
according to Newsweek. "The guy was always praying, wearing religious
jewelry, and he was really good at his job. He was real handy and a tactical
dude."
Was Jones killed immediately he entered the front line?
On August
26, Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s far eastern Primorsky Krai region
said on Telegram that volunteers from Russia’s “Tiger” Detachment had killed a
24-year-old American man in combat, according to Newsweek.
His death
was later confirmed by a U.S. State Department spokesperson to Newsweek.
TJ dismissed
claims by Kozhemyako that Jones was killed "immediately after arriving at
the front line," noting the volunteer had participated in combat
operations for months before meeting his untimely death.
"The
guy had been here since March. I've been in firefights with this guy, I've been
on missions with this guy, I've been on ambushes with this guy. We were all
across the front line," said TJ, noting that Jones' military card
published by the Russian governor had a date from when he joined a new unit in
the Donbas region, according to Newsweek.
"He's
been on this front line all across the bank. He was not just cut down in his
first month," TJ said.