Poplar Bluff’s war correspondent

The Poplar Bluff Museum tells many unknown tales of our community. I want to tell you some of those hidden tales found within the museum walls.

Gregg Jones is an award winning journalist, author and international correspondent. Recently, he was selected as the 2015-2016 Kluge Fellow by the Black Mountain Institute of Nevada and the John Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

Gregg graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 1977. He began his journalist career in 1981 as a reporter for the Roanoke Times and World News, and then the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In 1984, Gregg travelled to the Philippines as a freelance correspondent for the Washington Post and The Guardian. He was there when the people overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Gregg covered the revolution first hand with eye witness accounts. During this time, he also went underground and made several trips to the Red Zone. This area was still controlled by Communist guerrillas. Gregg linked up with the New People’s Army. Because of this rare access and insight, he wrote his first book. ”Red Revolution: Inside the Philippine Guerilla Movement” was published in 1989.

Gregg was now a vetted war correspondent and investigative reporter. He returned to the United States and went to rural Arkansas. From there, Gregg wrote many exposés about the poor health care in the state. In 1999, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize due to those articles.

A journalist is a lot like a man on a hunt. He worked at the Dallas Morning News in 1997 until 9/11. In 2001, Gregg rushed off to Iraq and Afghanistan to cover the search for Osama bin Laden. He followed the U.S. military through the mountains all the way to Tora Bora. In 2002, Gregg was back in the United States working at the Los Angeles Times. He covered California politics interviewing governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzeneger.

With the success of his first book, Gregg wrote his second war story in 2012. It was called “Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines and the Rise and Fall of the American Imperial Dream.” This was a story about an unknown part of the Spanish-American War. Gregg wrote his third book in 2014. “Last Stand at Khe Sanh, The U.S. Marines’ Finest Hour in Vietnam” was about the 77-day siege of the Marine base during the 1968 Tet Offensive. The book was well received by the Marine Corps. It was awarded the General Wallace Green Jr. Award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Leatherneck Magazine compared the book to other such combat classics as “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Battle Cry,” and “We Were Soldiers, And Young.”

Poplar Bluff stands tall on the shoulders of Gregg Jones. A copy of “Last Stand at Khe Sanh” is on display in the Local Authors bookcase in the People Room. We hope to have his other books on display soon.

The museum is open free of charge and handicap accessible. It is open 1-4 p.m. Sunday at 1010 N. Main St. Tell them Mike sent you.