JACOBSON, DOUGLAS THOMAS - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve,
3d Battalion, 23d Marines, 4th Marine Division. Place and date: Iwo Jima,
Volcano Islands, 26 February 1945. Entered service at: New York. Birth:
25 November 1925, Rochester, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while
serving with the 3d Battalion, 23d Marines, 4th Marine Division, in combat
against enemy Japanese forces during the seizure of Iwo Jima in the Volcano
Island, 26 February 1945. Promptly destroying a stubborn 20mm. antiaircraft
gun and its crew after assuming the duties of a bazooka man who had been
killed, Pfc. 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 defense. Employing his weapon with ready accuracy when his
platoon was halted by overwhelming enemy fire on 26 February, he first
destroyed 2 hostile machinegun positions, then attacked a large blockhouse,
completely neutralizing the fortification before dispatching the 5-man
crew of a second 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 6 positions to a shambles, killed
10 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 1 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, Pfc. Jacobson destroyed a total of 16 enemy positions and annihilated
approximately 75 Japanese, thereby contributing essentially to the success
of his division's operations against this fanatically defended outpost
of the Japanese Empire. His gallant conduct in the face of tremendous odds
enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
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