Earl K. Jackson

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Earl K. Jackson (RA16264890), Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Company G, 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Private Jackson distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces near Kube-ri, Korea, on 1 September 1950. Private Jackson’s platoon, in defensive positions on a strategic hill, was viciously attacked in the early morning hours by a numerically superior hostile force supported by intense automatic weapons and grenade fire. The fanatical assailants swarmed up the hill, overran several individual positions, and ferocious hand-to-hand combat ensued. During the encounter, an enemy grenade was thrown within two feet of the emplacement occupied by Private Jackson and two comrades. Without hesitation, he jumped out of the foxhole, grabbed the grenade, and hurled it back, wounding one of the enemy. Then, while in another foxhole with three soldiers, a grenade was thrown into the position. Fully realizing the odds against him, Private Jackson threw himself on it, absorbing the full force of the explosion with his body. Private Jackson was mortally wounded in this fearless display of valor, but his willing self-sacrifice saved several of his comrades from death or serious injury and imbued the members of his company with indomitable resolution to repel the ruthless foe.