Medal of Honor Veteran Speaks About Duty and Sacrifice at NMCP

Photo By Seaman Imani Daniels | Medal of Honor recipient, retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, and NMCP staff members pose for a photo after the ceremony.  

PORTSMOUTH, VA, UNITED STATES

06.06.2019

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kris Lindstrom 

Naval Medical Center - Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (June 13, 2019) – Retired U.S. Army Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient, visited Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) to speak with staff members about his experiences and what they have taught him through the years.
Jacobs, the author of two books and a regular on NBC Evening News and MSNBC as an expert in military affairs, spoke about honor, commitment, motivation, and also leadership and how it is vitally important to be vigilant in doing a job well while also passing that on to juniors and subordinates.
“In our haste to accomplish the mission,” Jacobs said. “What we forget is what we ought to be doing in addition to that is train the next generation of people in uniform to have the same values and commitment that you do.”
Jacobs continued by telling a story about his time in Vietnam, tying in his own experiences of crisis management and how it ties into the medical profession.
“A crisis is a very peculiar set of circumstances and be careful of anybody who runs around saying everything is a crisis because if everything is a crisis, then nothing is a crisis,” Jacobs said. “Medical people have to exude the kind of calmness that is required by somebody that recognizes that only a very small and finite number of circumstances are really a crisis.”
On March 9, 1968, Jacobs was with the lead companies of his battalion when, without warning, they came under intense fire by the Vietcong, who were entrenched in bunkers not more than 50 yards from where they were standing. Within minutes, many of his battalion was killed or wounded. Jacobs was hit by an exploding mortar that sent shrapnel tearing to his head and face. Completely disregarding his wounds, he dragged his badly wounded sergeant to safety and then returned to the battlefield to save others, over two dozen times, each time through a hail of enemy fire. He kept at it until he finally collapsed from his wounds.
He briefly spoke about this experience and commented on what his motivations were looking back on it.
“I was motivated not just by my closeness to all my comrades, but also a teaching from a 1st century Hebrew scholar named Hillel who said very poignantly, ‘If not you, who? And if not now, when?’, If somebody is not going to do what you do, who is going to do it? If everyone says ‘no not me’, then nobody is going to do it. That is why what everybody in uniform is doing is so important.”
For his actions, he was presented the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon on October 9, 1969. Jacobs accepted the award humbly and feels like it doesn’t just belong to him.
“We don’t wear it for ourselves,” Jacobs said. “We wear it for all the men and women who didn’t come back, who maybe did something that nobody saw or they weren’t recognized. [Medal of Honor recipient] Woody Williams, a Marine out of Iwo Jima, said it best saying, ‘this medal is not mine. I just hold it in trust.’ I feel the same way and I think if you talk to anyone who is a recipient, they will tell you the same thing.”
Jacobs gave the servicemembers a piece of advice and told them they should be proud for what they do and represent in uniform.
“You can’t be them, you got to be you and if you try to be someone other than you, you will fail no matter how technically proficient you are,” Jacobs said. “That would be my advice and certainly take pride in what you are doing. I am here representing 326 million people who can’t be here to thank you for what you are doing.”
As the U.S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating military hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally-acclaimed, state-of-the-art medical center, along with the area's 10 branch health and TRICARE Prime Clinics, provide care for the Hampton Roads area. The medical center also supports premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman for future roles in healing and wellness.

• Date Taken: 06.06.2019
• Date Posted: 06.17.2019 13:48
• Story ID: 327921
• Location: PORTSMOUTH, VA, US