Leland honors native killed during Vietnam War

Monument dedicated July 4th

 

July 4, 2005

 

The Town of Leland honored the late Pfc. John Edwin Jacobs at a ceremony at the Leland Town Hall at 10:00 a.m. on July 4, 2005.  Jacobs, who lived in the Hooper Road area in northern Brunswick County, is the only individual with a Leland address listed as a casualty in the Vietnam War.

 

“As someone who spent 21 years and six months in our armed forces, I remember the negative stigma many attached to our armed forces during the Vietnam conflict,” says Leland Police Chief Osey Sanders.  “John Edwin Jacobs was only 20 years old when he paid the ultimate price for our country, and I am proud that the Town of Leland is honoring this young man’s sacrifice.”

 

Chief Sanders retired from the United States Air Force as a Senior Master Sergeant in 1993.  Sanders approached the Leland Town Council with the idea to establish a memorial honoring Jacobs’ sacrifice.  The town unveiled a monument honoring Jacobs at the July 4 ceremony.

 

About Pfc. John Edwin Jacobs

Only one individual from the Leland area was listed as a casualty in the Vietnam War -- a young man from the Hooper Road area by the name of John Edwin Jacobs.  According to research data, John entered the U.S. Army around March of 1968.  He completed his training and was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division as a Combat Infantryman.  Private First Class Jacobs departed for Vietnam in September 1968 and was assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division.  Shortly after his arrival, on October 1, 1968, his unit was on patrol in the province of Quang Tri near the DMZ when records indicate that his unit was ambushed and that PFC Jacobs was killed by small arms fire.  He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and was laid to rest in his family’s cemetery, near the home in which they still reside on Hooper Road.  John’s father and mother, John and Mildred Jacobs of Hooper Road, are scheduled to attend the ceremony to honor their son.  By all accounts, Pfc. Jacobs was a well liked individual.  He was a 1967 graduate of what was then Lincoln High School on Lincoln road near Leland and was a devout member of his church, Hooper Road Chapel.

 

Ceremony Agenda

- Guest Speaker:  Rear Admiral Stephen Glass (USNR)

- Reading of Poem:  The Honorable Franky Thomas, Mayor of Leland

- Ceremonial Hosting of U.S. Flag:  U. S. Army

- Thoughts from the Family:  Command Sergeant Major Charles Holiday, Sr. (U.S. Army

- Closing Prayer:  Reverend Martha Jacobs, Pastor, Blackwell Chapel AME Zion Church.

 

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