JOHN E. JACOBS MEMORIAL TRIBUTE
58 years after his death, a community pays tribute.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, more than 60 veterans and community members gathered at Leland’s Founders Park to honor Private
1st Class John E. Jacobs, a son of Leland, who was KIA in Quang Tri province, Republic of South Vietnam, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1968.
Members of Jacobs’ immediate and extended family attended, as did several local town officials. American Legion Post 68
members Tom Powers, commander; John Hacker, second vice commander; and Eric Mens, public affairs officer, organized
the event.
Powers opened the ceremony, followed by Tom Campbell, mayor pro tem of the Town of Leland, in the mayor's absence. Chuck Bost, mayor of Belville - a member of Post 68 and a Desert Storm veteran - then offered remarks and acknowledged the event's significance.
During the July 2026 reopening and dedication of Founders Park, Hacker and Mens viewed the Jacobs’ Memorial Stone and realized they had both served in Quang Tri at the same time as him. Mens served as a combat medic with the 1st Cavalry Division from November 1967 to November 1968, while Hacker served as an infantry squad leader with the Americal Division.
Both men wholeheartedly agreed that Jacobs deserved formal recognition and a memorial service 58 years after his death. Originally founded in 1973, Post 68 had been reorganized in 2014 and renamed in honor of Jacobs in 2019. Mens recounted details of Jacobs’ short life to the audience.
Born on Dec. 4, 1947, John Edwin Jacobs was the second child and first son of seven children born to Mildred Hooper-Jacobs and John William Jacobs. His siblings include sisters Minnie, Martha, Ella and Yvonne, and brothers Richard and Harvey Jacobs, several of whom were able to attend the memorial service. Minnie is the oldest. Friends and family
affectionately called him “Ed” and remember him fondly as a kind, gentle person who loved his family, especially his parents.
After graduating from Lincoln High School in Leland, he was drafted in March 1968 as the war in Vietnam was raging. Following basic combat training, he became an 11B10 infantryman and earned the rank of private first class.
On Aug. 8, 1968, John was assigned to the 11th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). He was killed by small arms fire while on patrol on Oct. 1.
