21 Nov 2002 The Wall, the Memorial Wall, of the fallen heroes who fought in Vietnam ... is more that just a wall of names ... it stands for what makes our nation grand. A man made the trip one day ... to pay tribute to his father ... a man he never got to know for the war had taken him away. Through tear-dimmed eyes he read each name, he read them one by one until he came to SP/4 John W. Jacobson ... the father he lost to the war ... just after his life had begun. He made a rubbing of his father's name, and then found a place to sit ... in silence he just sat there ... as he in fondness stared down at it. His mind was filled with wonder of how life might have been ... if from the war ... his father had returned to him once again. This is but one of the stories that the Wall can tell, each one different but yet the same ... Yes, the Wall holds a hero's story behind each and every name. I was with Jake the day he was killed in action on the "Street without Joy". It has been 34 years since the day you were taken away. You have been missed, I think of you every day, and can only say "Rest in peace, my good friend".

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall In June and July 1968, the 3rd Platoon, D Company, 14th Combat Engineer Battalion, was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division and participated in OPERATION JEB STUART. The mission was to conduct a detailed search of the area known as "The Street without Joy" in Quang Tri Province with the intention of locating and destroying the 814th NVA Battalion. On 30 July 1968 the 3rd Platoon lost seven men killed or wounded when SP4 John W. Jacobson, the point man in a minesweeping operation, stepped on a mine. The explosion killed Jacobson but only wounded the other members of his squad.

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