Dan Elkins Jones

First Lieutenant Dan Elkins Jones, US Army, was born on 3 February 1947 in Los Angeles, California, moved with his family to Oklahoma City and graduated from Putnam City High School in 1965. He attended Oklahoma State University for one year prior to enlisting in the Army in 1966, was selected for Officer Candidate School and commissioned in August 1968 as a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery.

After completing additional training at the Special Warfare School and Jungle Warfare School, LT Jones was deployed to Vietnam where he was eventually assigned to a South Vietnamese Intelligence and Reconnaissance Company as its Senior Advisor. He remained with that company for the duration of his tour of duty in Vietnam. In 1969 LT Jones was awarded the Bronze Star with "V"; the Silver Star; the Gallantry Cross with Silver Star by the Government of Vietnam; the Air Medal with "V"; and the Purple Heart Medal.
Upon leaving the service in August 1970, he returned to Stillwater to resume his studies at Oklahoma State University, earning Bachelor’s, Master's, and Doctorate (1989) degrees in Psychology while working in the counselling field.

In 1989 he established a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) clinic at the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Medical Center. The services he created were advanced therapies for veterans. He organized effective group outpatient services that supplanted the traditional inpatient individualized care. And he organized structured six-week programs instead of sporadic counseling services. He led the program for 25 years until his retirement in 2014. Afterwards, he continued to counsel a limited number of veteran clients, mainly for treatment of anxiety and depression.

Dr. Jones lived in Oklahoma City with his wife of 51 years prior to passing away in 2023.