"Jiggs" and "Johnny"

This is one of my clearest memories of childhood; I can shut my eyes and see my dad and I sitting together on the living room couch, the helmet laying there beside us. The house was quiet that day. My three brothers were not home and I was trying to find something to keep me entertained. Earlier, I had been looking through the combination linen and toy/game closet. As I was rumaging around, something heavy fell from a higher shelf. I jumped back to dodge it, then picked it off the floor to look at this metal helmet. I had never seen it before and I was curious. It was big, and it was heavy, and it was dented.

My dad was the only other person at home. So, I took it to him and asked if he could tell me what it was. My dad held the helmet in his much stronger hands and sighed. He touched the deep dent, and then he talked to me for the first and only time about his role in World War II. My dad had the opportunity to serve in many ways and places during that war. But, as the war raged on and things were looking ominous for the allied forces, "Jiggs" found himself stranded in a location and in a position that made him feel restless and longing to join the fight. "Jiggs" was training navy enlistees in Virginia. As recruiters came to the base and opportunites for other positions came, "Jiggs" was always told by his commanding officers that he was too valuable and that he did such an outstanding job training the new sailors that he could not be spared. So, he continued serving in Virginia.

At a time when "Jiggs" was the most discouraged, a special meeting was held on his base. This recruiter talked about an all volunteer unit that would be selected for a secret mission. Those men would not only be undertaking a secret assignment that could change the course of the war but they would be facing such dangerous condtions that the unit might have a rate as high as 90% casualties. As the other sailors drifted away, "Jiggs" went to talk to the officer. "Jiggs" told him that he was ready to volunteer but that he had not received permission from his commander to leave his current assignment regardless of what assignment that he had volunteered for in the past. The officer looked "Jiggs" in the eye and told him, "Son, if you qualify for this assignment, nothing will stop you from joining this unit." And, so it was that "Jiggs" found himself training with the other members of "Demolition Unit O". And, it was during his training that he met his chief, John Jacobson.

My dad told me that he had never met a man like "Johnny". He was a little older than the rest of the men; tall and built like a grizzly bear. Yet, his voice was gentle; he never raised it and he never spoke a curse word. There was an inner strength about him that inspired men to accept his leadership without question. "Jiggs" trusted him with his life. Their secret mission did not go as planned. They were the first troops to land on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion. They were a demolition unit and much of their explosives had been lost in the landing and what had survied was wet and slowly drfting ashore.

These men had to use their innovation and training to grab what they could, blow up the enemy defenses and keep moving forward. Some of the men captured enemy bulldozers to knock out concrete barracades. Explosions, smoke, and screams pierced the air all around "Jiggs" and the other members of this combat unit. Yet, they continued to move forward..always forward. "Jiggs" was beside many of his comrades, including his chief, mentor and good friend, "Johnny", when they were killed. As his heart mourned, he continued onward to complete his mission. (I asked my dad if he was ever afraid. He told me that there wasn't time to be afraid for they had to keep moving to remove obstacles and to protect and provide openings for the troops landing behind them.)

During the height of the battle, "Jiggs" battle helmet slipped and covered his face. As he was pushing it up to its proper position, a bullet slammed into the helmet. The force of the bullet, dazed "Jiggs" for a brief moment. "Jiggs" told me that had the helmet not slipped, that bullet would have hit him right between his eyes. He knew that God had spared his life. My dad told me that he had pondered that split second for many years. So many of his good friends and comrades died on that beach during that two day battle. Yet, "Jiggs" survived without a scratch. Later, my dad said that he understood why God spared his life that day. God had spared him to grant him the dearest wish of his heart. Because "Jiggs" had spent much of his early years in an orphans home, there is nothing that "Jiggs" had desired more than to have a family of his own. He felt that each of his children were blessings in his life. My brothers and I never doubted that we and our mother were always our dad's first priority.

NOTE: When "Jiggs" came back to the states, before he went home to Christine, he went to the tiny town of Duncan, Arizona. There he saw "Johnny"s widow, Almeda, and young son, Ron. He told them of their "Johnny"s courage and example. "Jiggs" told them of his own love, respect, and admiration for his chief. "Jiggs" and Christine visited the family again in 1972; "Jiggs" stayed in touch with the Jacobson family until his death in 1977.