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First Name: Raymond

Last Name: Jacobs

Birthplace: Bridgeport, CT, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Marines (present)







Date of Birth: 24 January 1926

Date of Death: 29 January 2008

Rank: Sergeant

Years Served:
Raymond Jacobs

   
Engagements:
•  World War II (1941 - 1945)
•  Korean War (1950 - 1953)

Biography:

Raymond Jacobs
Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps

Raymond Jacobs was born on 24 January 1926 in Bridgeport, CT.

Jacobs served during World War II as a Radio Operator in the Pacific Theatre. He was awarded the Purple Heart and was honorably discharged in 1946. He was called up during the Korean War in 1951 before retiring as a Sergeant.

Photo Claim

Jacobs spent his later years working to prove that he was the radio operator photographed by Louis R. Lowery, (a photographer with Leatherneck magazine), standing beneath the first American flag raised by Marines on Mount Suribachi. He even disputed the official identifications in the picture and asserted that it should be: PFC James Robeson (lower left corner), Lt. Harold Schrier (sitting behind his legs), PFC Raymond Jacobs (carrying radio), Sgt. Henry Hansen (cloth cap), unknown (lower hand on pole), Sgt. Ernest Thomas (back to camera), Phm2c John Bradley (helmet above Thomas), PFC James Michels (with carbine), Cpl. Charles Lindberg (above Michels).

Jacobs' face is not visible in Lowery's most widely circulated photograph. Jacobs' claim was based on other photographs taken at the flag raising by Lowery which he asserted show him. The man with a radio on his back in the most famous of Lowery's photographs had usually been identified as PFC Gene Marshall, a radio operator with the 5th Marine Division who died in 1987. The other men involved in the raising have all died. Annette Amerman, a historian with the Marine Corps History Division, said "there are many that believe" Jacobs was the radioman. "However, there are no official records produced at the time that can prove or refute Mr. Jacobs' location."

Jacobs worked as a reporter, anchor, and news director for KTVU in Oakland, CA, for 34 years before he retired in 1992.

Death and Burial

Raymond Jacobs died of natural causes at a hospital in Redding, CA, on 29 January 2008, at the age of 82. He is buried at Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, CA.



Honoree ID: 2675   Created by: MHOH

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