thedrifter
06-15-09, 06:24 AM
Area Medal of Honor awardees honored
Museum exhibit also recognizes artist, astronaut
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Jun. 14, 2009
Racine — Mary Jacobs remembers seeing the messenger walk up the front walk of her home to deliver a telegram and figuring that since it was her parents' 40th wedding anniversary that day, it was a happy message for them.
But it was the summer of 1943, and the country was at war. In hindsight Jacobs realized getting a telegram was most likely bad news.
Now 87, that's how she remembers the day she learned her older brother was missing in action. By the time the telegram was torn open by her parents, her only sibling, Maj. John L. Jerstad was dead - killed at the controls of the B-24 he was piloting in the skies over Romania. Just as well as she remembers learning the awful news, she vividly recalls the day when the Medal of Honor was presented to her family at a Racine church.
"It was in his nature" to volunteer for a dangerous mission, Jacobs said of her brother Sunday afternoon at the Legacy Museum and Veterans Center in Racine.
"He said to my mother in one of the letters he wrote home, 'I know you think this whole war is about me' because my mother worried about his safety. He told her, 'but just be glad I was able to be a part of this,'&ensp" Jacobs said.
Jacobs and her family attended a ceremony dedicating the opening of a Memorial Room and Medal of Honor exhibit honoring Jerstad and another Racine man who earned a Medal of Honor during World War II, Marine Pfc. Harold C. Agerholm. The event also honored Navy Capt. Laurel B. Clark, who perished in the 2003 breakup of the space shuttle Columbia and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Also remembered was combat artist George Pollard, a Marine who took part in the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. The Kenosha man, who died last year, made portraits of Marine heroes that were sent to hometown newspapers.
Marine Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told the group of military members, veterans, family members and dignitaries at the ceremony that Jerstad, Agerholm, Clark and Pollard did their duty and left a legacy in their communities.
"Each exemplified courage and unwavering sense of duty and selfless service," Allen said.
Bombing mission
Jerstad was 37 when he took part in the low-level mission of 179 B-24s assigned to destroy the Nazi-held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. He had already completed enough missions with the 93rd Bomb Group but volunteered. Jerstad, in his B-24, dubbed "Hell's Wench," and the other pilots encountered heavy resistance.
"Hell's Wench" was badly damaged, but Jerstad continued flying toward the target even though he could have made an emergency landing. By the time the bombs were released, Jerstad's B-24 was on fire, and he pointed the plane toward the target, crashing into it. Everyone on board was killed. Five American airmen would earn Medals of Honor that day, including Jerstad and his co-pilot.
In the new display at the Racine museum are replica Medals of Honor earned by Jerstad and Agerholm along with memorabilia - Marine and airman uniforms, a Marine pack, mess kit, first aid kit, samurai sword, Japanese flag, M-1 rifle and bayonet, a "Mae West" life vest, throat microphone and goggles. There's also biographical information and photos of Jerstad and Agerholm along with brief histories of the battles they died fighting.
Agerholm was 19 when his Marine unit landed on Saipan. During a fierce counter-attack by the Japanese, Agerholm volunteered to help evacuate his wounded comrades. Borrowing an abandoned ambulance, he rescued 45 wounded men in three hours under intense fire before he was shot to death by a Japanese sniper in July 1944.
Along with a replica of Clark's Space Medal of Honor are photos of the Racine Horlick High School graduate performing experiments on the space shuttle, her ponytail sticking out in the zero gravity. There's also a charcoal sketch of Clark done by Pollard in 2006.
After World War II, Pollard, whose wife attended Sunday's ceremony, painted portraits of Supreme Court justices, politicians, celebrities and presidents including Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. A display of his combat art at the museum shows pictures of Marines heading into battle and mourning the loss of a buddy.
Nan Pollard told the crowd that her husband grew up on a farm in the Sheboygan County community of Waldo, spending his summers working at a pea cannery to earn spending money. Though he didn't talk much about his war experiences, he told his wife about the time he opened his food ration pack while on Saipan and noticed a small can of peas. He looked closer and saw the peas had been canned at his former workplace in Waldo.
"He carefully took the lid off and carried it with him the rest of the war," she said.
Ellie
Museum exhibit also recognizes artist, astronaut
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Jun. 14, 2009
Racine — Mary Jacobs remembers seeing the messenger walk up the front walk of her home to deliver a telegram and figuring that since it was her parents' 40th wedding anniversary that day, it was a happy message for them.
But it was the summer of 1943, and the country was at war. In hindsight Jacobs realized getting a telegram was most likely bad news.
Now 87, that's how she remembers the day she learned her older brother was missing in action. By the time the telegram was torn open by her parents, her only sibling, Maj. John L. Jerstad was dead - killed at the controls of the B-24 he was piloting in the skies over Romania. Just as well as she remembers learning the awful news, she vividly recalls the day when the Medal of Honor was presented to her family at a Racine church.
"It was in his nature" to volunteer for a dangerous mission, Jacobs said of her brother Sunday afternoon at the Legacy Museum and Veterans Center in Racine.
"He said to my mother in one of the letters he wrote home, 'I know you think this whole war is about me' because my mother worried about his safety. He told her, 'but just be glad I was able to be a part of this,'&ensp" Jacobs said.
Jacobs and her family attended a ceremony dedicating the opening of a Memorial Room and Medal of Honor exhibit honoring Jerstad and another Racine man who earned a Medal of Honor during World War II, Marine Pfc. Harold C. Agerholm. The event also honored Navy Capt. Laurel B. Clark, who perished in the 2003 breakup of the space shuttle Columbia and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Also remembered was combat artist George Pollard, a Marine who took part in the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. The Kenosha man, who died last year, made portraits of Marine heroes that were sent to hometown newspapers.
Marine Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told the group of military members, veterans, family members and dignitaries at the ceremony that Jerstad, Agerholm, Clark and Pollard did their duty and left a legacy in their communities.
"Each exemplified courage and unwavering sense of duty and selfless service," Allen said.
Bombing mission
Jerstad was 37 when he took part in the low-level mission of 179 B-24s assigned to destroy the Nazi-held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. He had already completed enough missions with the 93rd Bomb Group but volunteered. Jerstad, in his B-24, dubbed "Hell's Wench," and the other pilots encountered heavy resistance.
"Hell's Wench" was badly damaged, but Jerstad continued flying toward the target even though he could have made an emergency landing. By the time the bombs were released, Jerstad's B-24 was on fire, and he pointed the plane toward the target, crashing into it. Everyone on board was killed. Five American airmen would earn Medals of Honor that day, including Jerstad and his co-pilot.
In the new display at the Racine museum are replica Medals of Honor earned by Jerstad and Agerholm along with memorabilia - Marine and airman uniforms, a Marine pack, mess kit, first aid kit, samurai sword, Japanese flag, M-1 rifle and bayonet, a "Mae West" life vest, throat microphone and goggles. There's also biographical information and photos of Jerstad and Agerholm along with brief histories of the battles they died fighting.
Agerholm was 19 when his Marine unit landed on Saipan. During a fierce counter-attack by the Japanese, Agerholm volunteered to help evacuate his wounded comrades. Borrowing an abandoned ambulance, he rescued 45 wounded men in three hours under intense fire before he was shot to death by a Japanese sniper in July 1944.
Along with a replica of Clark's Space Medal of Honor are photos of the Racine Horlick High School graduate performing experiments on the space shuttle, her ponytail sticking out in the zero gravity. There's also a charcoal sketch of Clark done by Pollard in 2006.
After World War II, Pollard, whose wife attended Sunday's ceremony, painted portraits of Supreme Court justices, politicians, celebrities and presidents including Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. A display of his combat art at the museum shows pictures of Marines heading into battle and mourning the loss of a buddy.
Nan Pollard told the crowd that her husband grew up on a farm in the Sheboygan County community of Waldo, spending his summers working at a pea cannery to earn spending money. Though he didn't talk much about his war experiences, he told his wife about the time he opened his food ration pack while on Saipan and noticed a small can of peas. He looked closer and saw the peas had been canned at his former workplace in Waldo.
"He carefully took the lid off and carried it with him the rest of the war," she said.
Ellie