Private First Class
United States Marine Corps Reserve
Douglas Jacobson
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS DOUGLAS T. JACOBSON
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
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, 26 February
1945. Promptly destroying a stubborn 20-mm. antiaircraft gun and its crew
after assuming the duties of a bazooka man who hadbeen 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 26 February, 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 bulletson 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.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
President of the United States
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