The Navy Cross Evidence
Everything that supports the review of HM3 Russell Jacobson for the Navy Cross, in one place. Tap a link to read or listen.
The family is preparing the case for formal submission to the Navy, pending one final supporting document.
Supported by the Plymouth Legislative Delegation
“We are writing to express our strong support for the posthumous awarding of the Navy Cross to Hospital Corpsman Russell H. Jacobson Jr., whose extraordinary heroism during the March 16, 1967 engagement on Hill 861 near Khe Sanh represents the highest standard of valor.”
- Dylan A. FernandesState Senator, Plymouth and Barnstable
- Kathleen R. LaNatraState Representative, 12th Plymouth
- Michelle L. BadgerState Representative, 1st Plymouth
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The General Court, State House, Boston
His service record
The Navy's own paperwork: wounded in action on Hill 861, awarded the Purple Heart, medically retired. In 2026 the Navy reviewed his complete file and confirmed it: Purple Heart, and no valor award ever recorded.
The Navy's official casualty report, filed the day after Hill 861: wounded in action, 16 March 1967, Operation Chinook II.
From the Commanding General, 3d Marine Division, for wounds received in combat on 16 March 1967.
Hospital Corpsman HM3, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. Date of rank: 16 March 1967.
Navy Personnel Command reviewed his complete file: Purple Heart confirmed. No valor award on record.
The Hill Fights, page 44
In 2003, historian Edward F. Murphy told what Russell did on Hill 861 in The Hill Fights: The First Battle of Khe Sanh (Presidio Press). His sources were two Marines from Echo Company who were there that day: SSgt Spencer Olsen and PFC John Chase.
“Hit more than a dozen times as he raced up and down the fire-swept trail to pull casualties to safety, the “doc” had finally been felled when a slug ripped into his right hip, destroying it.”
“He went into the service selflessly and served with distinction and suffered unspeakable wounds. He certainly deserves recognition for his valor.”
Edward F. Murphy, in a June 2026 email to the Jacobson familyThe March 24, 1967 recording
Eight days after the ambush, a Marine Corps interviewer at Khe Sanh recorded Echo Company's commander, Captain William B. Terrill, and two squad leaders from Russell's platoon. Both squad leaders reported the platoon's corpsmen killed. Russell was one of them, and he was still alive.
Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Quantico, Virginia. The transcript was prepared by the family; the recording is the authority.
Earl Chittenden remembers
Earl "Chit" Chittenden, the best man at Russell's wedding, found him on Hill 861 and believed he was dead.
The Thompson letter, 1967
LCpl Herbert Thompson, hit while carrying Russell to the helicopter, wrote to him from Naval Hospital Portsmouth: "you and only you was the fact that they made it OK."
Newspaper clippings, 1967
Two papers named Russell while he was still recovering at Chelsea Naval Hospital, before any award or claim was ever filed. One tells the ambush in his own words. The Boston Globe names him as the corpsman evacuated with Sgt. Raymond Paplaskas.
Letters to the Senators
Peg's 1971 letter to Senator Ribicoff and Russell's own 1986 letter to Senator Dodd describe his wounds and his long recovery.
For researchers: background records from 1967, including unit command chronologies and the Operation Chinook II file.