On June 4, 1944, the 45th Division was the first of Allied forces to get to Vatican City. Tragically, Jones perished before the division crossed the Tiber River. Before reaching the Vatican, Jones died from a shell fragment wound to the chest on June 3, 1944 in Lanuvio, Italy. His status was confirmed on July 8 of the same year as one of the 2,811 soldiers killed in action. Thanks to the brave actions of him and his fellow soldiers, the 45th Division successfully continued on to France and Germany until the conclusion of the war.
After the War
Jimmie Lee Jones later received the personnel effects of John Paul Jones, which included an insignia of the division, his lieutenant bar, and a lighter. She remarried with Frank Roddy and lived in Austin, Texas with him and her son John Michael. On March 15, 1949, Kate Jones requested that John Paul Jones was buried overseas next to the men he died with. John Paul Jones be buried in the American Military Cemetery of Nettuno, Italy in plot 2-K, row 68, grave 4986. The grave is situated by other brave men who died for the same cause. Although his body may have died, his death was meaningful in the success of the acquisition of Italy and the eventual victory in the war.