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2025 Gala Honoree – Jack Jacobs

Jack Jacobs had the desire to become an attorney. So, he came up with a plan: join the Army, sign up for airborne and do a three-year stint to earn the money required. Upon graduating from New Jersey’s Rutgers University, after completing Reserve Officer Training, Jack Jacobs enlisted in the Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant. By 1967, he had been deployed to Vietnam as part of the 82nd Airborne and was assigned as an advisor to a South Vietnamese infantry battalion in the Mekong Delta.
 
On March 9, 1968, Jack Jacobs and his South Vietnamese Battalion were on a mission to seek out the enemy, when they walked into a deadly L-shaped ambush by the Viet Cong. Hit by an exploding mortar, shell fragments tore into Jack’s arm, head, and face, breaking nearly every bone in it. With things rapidly spinning out of control, Jacobs assumed overall command, ordering a withdrawal to organize their defenses and mount a counterattack. Then, despite his own wounds, Jack ran into the middle of the firefight and dragged wounded American and South Vietnamese troops to safety through a hail of enemy fire. Not once, but twenty-five times. Fourteen soldiers made it out alive purely because of his heroic actions. It was only then that Jack Jacobs finally collapsed from his wounds and massive blood loss.
 
Ultimately evacuated from the scene of the battle, Jack would endure over a dozen surgeries to repair the damage done that day. On October 9, 1969, Jack Jacobs stood in the White House and was presented his Medal of Honor by President Nixon. Recipients of the Medal are, by custom, not permitted in harm’s way after their award, but Jack somehow found himself back in Vietnam in 1972 and was wounded yet again. Jack Jacob’s career in the Army ended after 20 years with the rank of Colonel.
 
Jack is anything but retired. He continues to teach classes at The United States Military Academy at West Point and his alma mater, Rutgers University. He has written two successful books, and he appears regularly on MSNBC and the NBC Nightly News as a senior military analyst and commentator. Thank you for being a part of our Gala.