The
President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March
3, 1863, has awarded in the name of The Congress the Medal of Honor to
Private First Class
Douglas Thomas Jacobson
UNITED STATES MARINE CORP RESERVE
*JACOBSON, DOUGLAS THOMAS
JACOBSON, DOUGLAS THOMAS - Private First Class, USMC Reserve, 3d Battalion, 23d
Marines, 4th Marine Division. Action: Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 26 Feb 1945.
Inducted: New York. DOB 25 Nov 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 Feb 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 Feb, 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 US Naval
Service.
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