Raymond Edward Jacobs (1926 - 2008)

Born 24 Jan 1926 in Bridgeport, Connecticut

Died 29 Jan 2008 at age 82 in Redding, California

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Biography

Raymond Jacobs is Notable.

Jacobs was born in 1926 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was a football star at Polytechnic High School in the Los Angeles area.

Jacobs enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943 and trained during World War II as a Marine Raider. He was sent overseas as a Marine radio operator with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division in the Pacific Theatre.

Jacobs participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima which began on February 19, 1945. On February 23 at 8 AM, First Lieutenant Harold Schrier, the E Company executive officer, led a 40-man combat patrol from Third Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines up Mount Suribachi to siege and occupy the crest. Accompanying Schrier was Jacobs, a radioman from F Company who was assigned to him for the patrol. Schrier was to raise an American flag he was given to signal that the mountaintop was captured. Once on top of the volcano, a section of a Japanese water pipe was found that became the flagstaff for the flag. Schrier and two other Marines attached the flag to the pipe which was then carried to the highest spot on the crater.

At approximately 10:20-10:35 a.m., Lt. Schrier, Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas, and Sergeant Henry Hansen, raised the flag (Thomas was ordered to report aboard the flagship USS Eldorado on February 25, and during an interview with a CBS radio broadcaster said that Schrier, himself, and Sgt. Henry Hansen had actually raised the flag). Seeing the raising of the national colors immediately caused a reaction of loud cheering from the Marines, sailors, and coast guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near the beach; the ships whistles and horns went off too. Hansen was killed in action on Iwo Jima on March 1, and Thomas on March 3. On March 10, 1945, Jacobs was wounded by enemy mortar fire and was evacuated off Iwo Jima. The actual raising of the first flag on Mount Suribachi had not been photographed.

In the early afternoon, a larger replacement flag was brought up Mount Suribachi by the Easy Company runner (messenger) which was then attached unto another Japanese steel pipe. This flag was raised by six servicemen while the first flag was lowered. A photograph of the second flag raising by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal appeared in the newspapers, became renowned world-wide, made the second flag-raisers and Rosenthal famous, and led to the creation of the huge Marine Corps War Memorial (sometimes referred to as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in 1954, in Arlington, Virginia.

Jacobs was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946. He then went to work as a reporter, anchor, and news director for KTVU in Oakland, California for 34 years before retiring in 1992. In 1950, Jacobs was called up for Marine Corps service during the Korean War. He served as a Marine instructor in California until he was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1951.

Jacobs died of natural causes at a hospital in Redding, California, on January 29, 2008, at the age of 82. He is buried in Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, California.

Sources

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMGY-53K : accessed 18 November 2016), Raymond Jacobs in household of Edward Jacobs, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 5, sheet 12A, line 14, family 157, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 253; FHL microfilm 2,339,988.

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9CK-ZZN : accessed 18 November 2016), Raymond G Jacobe in household of Mae H Jacobe, Councilmanic District 10, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-837, sheet 6A, line 34, family 191, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 403.

"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V31G-4J8 : 19 May 2014), Raymond Edward Jacobs, 29 Jan 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

"United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK29-TJZG : 18 October 2016), Raymond Jacobs, California, United States, 01 Feb 2008; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Redding Record Searchlight, born-digital text.