John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones

Very few people overcame challenges like John Paul Jones did. The murder of two sailors was a crime he fled from, and later in his life he would continually go to battle against better armed ships and better-trained crews. Yet, he never let that frustrate him and captured or sank ship after ship. Without Jones at the helm of young America’s ragtag navy, Washington and the Continental Army would have faced a much heavier armed and better supplied British Army and might have never succeeded in their extraordinary fight for liberty. This man, born a Scot and a dedicated member of both the American and the Russian navies -- both underdogs of their times -- truly was a hero, though perhaps with less than shining morals.

Now recognized as the one of the most state-of-the-art and well-trained navies, the United States Navy, then known as the Continental Navy, likely would not have flowered as it did without the efforts of John Paul Johns. He battled the British Navy, vastly outgunned and out-shipped, yet won victory after victory, striking fear into British ports of the day his sails would appear upon the horizon. After one skirmish, he was asked by the British if he wished to surrender his ship without a fight, he replied the stark words which have become a motto of American determination, “"I have not yet begun to fight." After speaking these words, John Paul Jones defeated larger and more powerful British ship. Impressive work for the son of a Scottish gardener.

Bonhomme Richard, his most famous ship

As a member of a fairly heavily naval family, Jones means quite a bit to me. Without his examples of courage and determination, the Continental Navy might have fared far differently and might not have been as heavily supported after the patriots won the war -- if they managed to do that without American ships capturing British trade and supply vessels and sacking British ports. In addition, he did not merely just in the Continental Army as, after a long time of service to the United States, he was a dutiful admiral to in the Russian Navy as well.

In the long list of American military heroes, it is easy to get lost. Most seem to be almost cliché heroes, almost cookie-cutter in their service and their lives. John Paul Jones stands out. His morals were less than perfect, and his ego was sometimes larger than his ship – of which, I must sadly say the same. I suppose the reason I truly look up to John Paul Jones is the fact that he is one of the most human military heroes there is, as well as the father of the United States Navy – my family’s well-served branch of the armed forces. Anchors away, John, wherever you may be sailing.