The Mystery of the Missing Medal of Honor and Marine Arthur Jackson

LT Arthur J. Jackson receiving his medal of honor from President Truman

And here is the mystery: Where did the medal go? 

What Jackson did on Peleliu is simply amazing:

During the savage battle for Peleliu in the South Pacific*, his 7^th Marines were pinned by withering Japanese fire from dug-in fortifications. That’s when the 19-year-old Jackson drew on an almost superhuman courage and determination.“When my platoon leader came along,” Jackson told Fox News, “he asked me…Jackson – do you think you can get into that ---damned shallow trench that runs across the front of that big bunker?  If you can, you could probably do some bad things.” Dodging a hail of enemy fire and snipers in the surrounding coconut trees, Jackson made for the trench.  He and a squad member had rigged a pack with 45 pounds of C2 plastic explosive.  Jackson threw a phosphorous grenade into the bunker, then pushed the pack through the aperture and lit the fuse.“And it just sizzled. And I knew I had about 30 seconds to get the hell out of the area,” he told Fox News.Jackson spotted a nearby crater from a 500-pound bomb and ran to it like it was the last thing he’d ever do. It almost was.“Just as I dove in there, the roof of that big bunker -- whoooooom..!  Up it went…coconut logs, boulders, earth..  I thought – I’ve been done in by my own stupidity.”That would have been enough for most warriors.  But Jackson kept going.  By the time it was all over, he had taken out 12 bunkers and killed 50 enemy troops.Almost singlehandedly, Jackson had secured the southern tip of Peleliu for the Marines.

* actually Peleliu is in Palau, which is just north of the equator.  So it is technically not the South Pacific.  But I am nitpicking.  

An invitation to veterans.