Heritage Watch - tomb of Commodore John Paul Jones at Annapolis - Brief Article

All Hands, Feb, 2001 by Saul Ingle

If you were to ask many of today's youth about I the name John Paul Jones, you would most likely get a response like, "Isn't that the guitarist for Led Zeppelin?"

If you were really lucky, you might get the response that he was a captain, a Sailor or something, but that's not the answer 1C3 Warren Kelley would give you. "He's my watch," says Kelley.

Under one of the most recognizable chapels in all of Annapolis, Md., lays the tomb of Commodore John Paul Jones at the United States Naval Academy. The tomb of the great naval leader, famous for saying "I have not yet begun to fight," has been a landmark tourist attraction at the Academy since exhumed from a French cemetery early last century and placed in Annapolis in 1913.

Kelly stands his first watch of the day, keeping an eye on everything around him. "It's a four-hour watch with a two-person rotation every day," Kelly says.

"I am here to watch over the tomb, make sure no one tries to cross the ropes and to answer tourists' questions," he says.

So rest easy Commodore. 1C3 Warren Kelley has the watch.

Ingle is a photographer assigned to All Hands.