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thedrifter
02-23-04, 07:10 AM
WWII Heroes -- local veterans honored for D-Day duties
By Eric Apalategui
Feb 20, 2004 - 11:35:16 pm PST

VANCOUVER -- Frank Jacobsen says he has a million stories from his Navy days during World War II. After Friday, make that a million and one.

Jacobsen and 17 other veterans from Southwest Washington were awarded Jubilee of Liberty medals for their parts in the D-Day invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France, that started 60 years ago this June and helped turn the tide in favor of the Allied Forces.


"My chest is sticking out today to get this award," Jacobsen said after the brief ceremony.

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, and Major Gen. T.K. Moffett presented the medals directly to Jacobsen, Delmar Middleton of Winlock and other veterans from Southwest Washington. The medals will be delivered to a handful of other Normandy veterans who were unable to attend the ceremony, including Elvin Pederson of Kelso.

The gold Jubilee of Liberty medal depicts the Statue of Liberty on one side and Normandy on the other. The French minted the first medals for the invasion's 50th anniversary in June 1994, but newer medals are now minted in the United States and presented through Congressional offices.

Nethercutt took an interest in the awards after traveling to Normandy and has worked to identify more than 200 veterans throughout Washington who qualify for the medal by taking part in the three-month Operation Overlord on the French coastline.

"It's a small token of our appreciation -- but it's an important token," he said.

Jacobsen, now 83, lives on Puget Island, where he retired as a dairyman and still does construction work. He expects to soon step down as longtime commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post.

After receiving the gold medal, Jacobsen regaled the audience of more than 100 honorees, their families and military personnel at Pearson Air Museum with stories from his days as a boatswains mate second class aboard the battleship USS Nevada.

He told the crowd about meeting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, running aground just days before the invasion, landing the troops on the beaches and, to hearty laughs, meeting "the girls in Great Britain (who) were all beautiful."

Middleton, 81, was a private first class with the Army Air Corps. His unit bombed the enemy for days before he went ashore and met continuing resistance.

He chose not to speak in front of the audience, but he told a reporter that, after 60 years, he was pleased to be honored for the first time for risking his life at Normandy. "I had another medal coming from France that I never did get," Middleton said.

Middleton, who moved to Winlock in 1991, retired as a cement mason after helping build some of the Columbia River dams and major bridges and overpasses in Portland and Seattle.

Pederson, 83, was an Army corporal whose tank destroyer battalion helped recapture a French village during the invasion and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Due to a planned leg surgery, Pederson was unable to attend Friday's ceremony, but he said later that he was happy to receive the medal. He had worked as an electrician in Portland, worked at several Oregon lumber mills and then worked for 20 years in maintenance at Triangle Mall in Longview.

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2004/02/21/area_news/news01.txt


Sempers,

Roger
:marine: