CAPTAIN
ARTHUR JUNIOR JACKSON, USAR (DECEASED)

 

Medal of Honor Citation

Captain Arthur J. Jackson earned the Medal of Honor on Peleliu in World War II as a private first class. During ceremonies at the White House, 5 October 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Nation's highest combat award.

Arthur J. Jackson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 18 October 1924. He moved to Portland, Oregon, with his parents in 1939, and completed Grant High School there. After graduation, he worked in Alaska for a naval construction company until November 1942, when he returned to Portland and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of eighteen.

Following this, he took part in the fighting on Peleliu, during which he earned the Medal of Honor and his first Purple Heart while serving with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines. He again went into combat on Okinawa where, as a platoon sergeant with the 1st Marine Division, he was again wounded in action, 18 May 1945. That August his commission as a Marine second lieutenant was effected.

Following the war, he served in North China during the post-war occupation of that country. On his return to the United States, he returned briefly to civilian life, but, shortly after, entered the U.S. Army Reserves where, in 1954, he made the rank of captain. Although he served with the Army during the Korean conflict, he returned to the Marine Corps in 1959. He again left the Corps in 1962 but remained active in the Army Reserves and eventually retired from that service in 1984.

Captain Jackson passed away at the age of 92 on 14 June 2017 in Boise, Idaho.  He was laid to rest in the Idaho Veterans State Cemetery on 22 June 2017.

Besides the Medal of Honor, the Letter of Commendation, and two Purple Hearts, Capt Jackson's medals include: the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the China Service Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal.

World War II Medal of Honor