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| Jesse Jacobs at age 23 flying B-17s in WWII |
© 2016 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “If a man
has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of those, Jesse Jacobs, passed
away last week at age ninety-three. He was a friend of my uncle and myself for
many years. While his death was not a surprise, the loss of this national
treasure hurts. His friends and family mourn, of course, but there is mourning
for the passing of a way of life symbolized by Jesse Jacobs and many more like
him.
Even at an early age there were
things he would die for. Country singer Randy Travis has a song, “Points of
Light” that starts: There is a point when
you cannot walk away. When you have to stand up straight and tall, and mean the
words you say. There is a point you must decide just to do it because it’s
right. That’s when you become a point of light.
Colonel Jesse Jacobs, Air Force
Retired, was born in August 1923 so he was just eighteen when WWII started.
Like many in his generation he volunteered to serve in the military and was a
B-17 pilot. Part of his training to fly the B-17 was in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Eventually he ended up in England. After
the war he continued his military career and happened to be stationed in Japan
when the Korean War started suddenly. That day he left his wife and child in
Japan and flew to Korea to fight for freedom.
Jesse went as an F-80 fighter pilot.
In the last seven years I have sat with Jesse as he talked about an America
that went to war willingly and defeated the ones who intended to capture the
entire world and hold everyone hostage.
Adolf Hitler intended to have his
country hold all other countries for a thousand years. But he did not reckon on
Jesse Jacobs and other Americans who ended his reign of terror at just twelve
years.
Even talking about WWII is difficult
in today’s world because we already know that the allies won. Italy, Germany
and Japan were defeated and present no threat to us now. But in 1941 young men
had to step forward and do their duty without knowing the outcome.
Some came back and 420,000 Americans
did not. Who knows what good they might have done if they had lived.
My uncle who served in the navy as a
radar specialist for naval aviation sat with Jesse many years and they talked
quietly about that long ago generation. I took my uncle to the Senior Citizen’s
Center Monday through Friday for lunch and enjoyed the history lessons.
My father entered WWII out of high
school at the outbreak and retired in 1966 with twenty-five years of service.
He was a combat photographer and later taught photography at the Air Force
School of Photography in Denver at Lowery Air Force Base.
My sadness is that years ago my
parents died while my uncle who I cared for many years died last year. Now
Jesse. We are losing those of that generation as of course age takes them. It
will be my generation next. What bothers me is that growing up with my “I like
Ike” button I was steeped in the understanding of what it took to defeat the
forces of evil the last time there was a world war.
Much of that history is no longer
taught in schools and we have people disrespecting our aged military veterans. That
is their right but it doesn’t make it right. I wonder: what will these who bash
the military do if a country decides to take us over… a country like Russia
which is effectively a dictatorship.
Will they fight? It is doubtful. Even
with patriots left, there is little leadership. I bid a farewell to Jesse
Jacobs and all he stood for as a point of light. We are a lesser nation for his
passing.
Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new
novel, Hideaway Hills, Michael's new novel is available at Amazon.com
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