"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty while serving with the Third Battalion, Twenty-Third Marines, Fourth Marine Division, in combat against enemy
Japanese forces during the seizure of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, February 26, 1945. Promptly destroying a stubborn 20-mm antiaircraft gun and its crew after assuming the duties of a bazooka
man who had been killed, Private First Class Jacobson waged a
relentless battle as his unit fought desperately toward the summit of
Hill 382 in an effort to penetrate the heart of Japanese cross-island
defenses. Employing his weapon with ready accuracy when his platoon was
halted by overwhelming enemy fire on February 26, he first destroyed two
hostile machine-gun
positions, then attacked a large blockhouse, completely neutralizing
the fortification before dispatching the five-man crew of a pillbox
and exploding the installation with a terrific demolitions blast. Moving steadily forward, he wiped out an earth-covered rifle emplacement
and, confronted by a cluster of similar emplacements which constituted
the perimeter of enemy defenses in his assigned sector, fearlessly
advanced, quickly reduced all six positions to a shambles, killed ten of
the enemy and enabled our forces to occupy the strong point. Determined
to widen the breach thus forced, he volunteered his services to an
adjacent assault company, neutralized a pillbox holding up its advance,
opened fire on a Japanese tank pouring a steady stream of bullets on one
of our supporting tanks and smashed the enemy tank's gun turret in a
brief but furious action culminating in a single-handed assault against
still another blockhouse and the subsequent neutralization of its
firepower. By his dauntless skill and valor, Private First Class
Jacobson destroyed a total of sixteen enemy positions and annihilated
approximately seventy-five Japanese, thereby contributing essentially to
the success of his division's operations against the fanatically
defended outpost of the Japanese Empire. His gallant conduct in the face
of tremendous odds enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the
United States Naval Service."
From PFC. Jacobson's Medal of Honor citation, awarded in October 1945.
May you be at peace,
Brian
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