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thedrifter
05-21-08, 09:45 AM
Honor Guard salutes flag raiser
Special to the DN
Article Last Updated: 05/20/2008 08:02:

Honor Guard members of Marine Corps League, Detachment 1140, Tehama/Red Bluff, gave the traditional rifle salute for Sgt. Raymond Jacobs at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery at Igo on Armed Forces Day, May 17.

Jacobs was the last known surviving member of the Marines who reached the top of Mt. Surabachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945, and raised the first American flag.

Jacobs later said that as the flag was raised he could hear the cheers and cries of thousands of his fellow Marines 500 feet below and across the island. The hundreds of ships also sounded their horns and whistles. He said those sounds never left him the rest of his life. It inspired and overwhelmed him.

The Jacobs family has given approval to the Northern California Battalion of Young Marines to be named the Ray Jacobs Battalion of Young Marines.

The idea was submitted by Marine Corps veteran, Cpl. Aaron Abazan, the Unit Commander of the Stockton Young Marines, and came from his Executive Officer, Kathy Tuhy just after Jacobs died on Jan. 29. Anazam is a Vietnam veteran and had the pleasure of knowing Jacobs and his family.

Ellie