Jack Jacobs: Vietnam War Hero and Recipient of the Medal of Honor and Other Awards for Valor

Jack Howard Jacobs , 76, is a retired colonel in the United States Army and a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions during the Vietnam War. On March 9, 1968, he was working as the assistant battalion advisor for the South Vietnamese army’s 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. During a mission on that day, the 2nd Battalion came under intense fire from an entrenched Viet Cong force. Although wounded himself by mortar fragments, Jacobs ordered a withdrawal and the establishment of a defense line at a more secure position. Despite impaired vision caused by his injuries, he repeatedly ran across open rice paddies through heavy fire to evacuate the wounded, personally saving more than a dozen soldiers. In addition to the Medal of Honor, Jacobs received two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts in Vietnam. He now serves as a military analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.
 
Quote: “Somebody asked me, years later [after Vietnam], what was going through my mind, beside the shrapnel. It was the realization that though everybody on the battlefield was killed and wounded, something had to be done. It was a genuine crisis. And I perceived that I was the only person who could do it. It’s a throwback to an old line from Hillel, the first-century Talmudic scholar, who said, basically, ‘If not you, who? And if not now, when?’ And I thought that if I didn’t do something, nobody else could, and I better do something. And so I did.”
 
Sources: Introduciton from Wikipedia, quotation from NPR
 
Learn more about Col. Jack Jacobs from Wikipedia. ►
 
Watch “Profiles in Valor: Col. Jack H. Jacobs” [4:18]. ►
 
Read “Medal Of Honor Recipient Asks: ‘If Not Now, When?’ ” ►
 
Watch “NBC Nightly News — Journey to Vietnam: A war veteran returns” [5:39]. ►
 
Photo: MSNBC News
 
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