LARRABEE MAN FOUGHT WITH SGT. YORK
By: Mike Manno
Today’s
observance of the 54th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I
will have special significance to this community’s former postmaster, Elmer Jacobson.
For
Jacobson, 76, who immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1913
at age 17, was a doughboy sergeant in the “All American 82nd Division
and fought side by side with the first world war’s foremost hero – Sgt.
Alvin York.
Indeed, Jacobson was with York that fateful Oct. 8
in 1918 when the conscientious objector from Tennessee single handedly
killed 25 German soldiers and capture 132 others for which York was
awarded the Corix d Guene and the Congressional Medal of Honor.
And, as fate would have it, a simple change in direction would have placed Jacobson in York’s place.
Jacobson’s
cross with York’s memorable day began in 1917 in Jamestown, N.D. when
the eager young immigrant, after service in the Swedish merchant
marines, attempted to enlist in the U.S. navy only to be rejected
because he was not an American citizen. (His citizenship was officially
granted after the war in 1920.) Jacobson then enlisted in the army’s
338th field artillery and was sent to Fort Dodge for seven months.
While
at Fort Dodge Jacobson learned that the southern oriented 82nd
Division, which was headed for France, needed added troop strength. So,
he volunteered and was assigned to the division’s K-Company, 326
Infantry regiment and was sent to the then Camp Gordon, Ga.
It
was at Camp Gordon that Jacobson began his brush with history as he met
a young rifle instructor (“a real crack shot,” Jacobson called him)
nick-named “Tennessee” York. “He was a big raw-boned man, about six
feet tall and wore a mustache,” Jacobson said. York was also a
good-natured man, remembered Jacobson. “He never had a cross word with
anyone as far as I know,” he said. “Even after he became a hero there
was no change in him. He didn’t boast or brag, he was the same likable
person he was before,” he said, adding that “by talking with him I
can’t believe the man had over a fourth grade education. “But, he was a
crack shot with a rifle.”
York and Jacobson took their places in
their respective regiments of the All American (York was in the 328th
regiment) and landed in Le Havre, France, April 8, 1918. We were with
the English near Abbeville for the first six weeks or so, “ Jacobson
recalled. “We were even armed with British rifles.
“While there, we
were attacked four times and suffered heavy losses but we held,” he
added proudly. Finally, the 82nd was able to join the American sector
outside Metz.On July 4, Jacobson said, K-Company made its first raid on
German lines. Seventeen of Jacobson’s countrymen died. The unit pushed
on throughout the summer reaching Argonne in September.
Finally
the American units were stopped and held up for two days just before
reaching what Jacobson’s map called Exon Hill, but was more commonly
referred to as “Dead Man’s Hill.” The terrain was rolling. Before them
was Dead Man’s Hill, flanked on either side by two smaller hills with
ravines separating them from the main mound. The situation was
critical, before them was apparently a pocket of German resistance,
through which they must somehow travel.
On the morning of Oct.
8, Sgt. Jacobson was informed that he was to lead 12 men from the 326th
around the right side of the hill, through the ravine and was to
penetrate the German forces. From the 328th squad of 18 led by “a Sgt.
Early” was to attempt the same thing on the left side of the
hill. In Early’s unit was the Tennessee sharpshooter, then a
corporal. The units moved out. Jacobson led his men to the right. Early
went to the left.
Jacobson did not run into a single German soldier,
but he heard heavy shooting on the other side of the hill and moved
around to be of some assistance.
What happened on the other side
of the hill is history. Early ran into four German machine gun nests
and a company size unit commanded by a German field grade officer. The
first bursts of fire took out Early and 15 Americans. All that was left
was Corp. York, now in command and two others.
York took cover and
while the Germans, who thought they had ambushed a similar sized unit,
vainly called for artillery support, began to pick them off one by one.
York’s position was on the lip of one of the ridges of the ravine,
Jacobson said, and while York was able to shoot down and pick off the
enemy they were unable to see him. Finally, the German officer feeling
he was in a hopeless situation called out to York and asked how many
troops he had. “A plenty,” the hero replied, “you’re surrounded.” With
that, 132 German soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered to
three Americans.
“I didn’t run into a single German” Jacoson
said, “When we reached York’s position it was all over. He had them
lined up with their hands over their heads – the only assistance I
could give was help return them to camp.”
According to Jacobson,
while official reports listed 25 Germans dead, he and his men
personally counted 16. “That’s not to say he didn’t get them, he
possibly did because I counted 16 myself.” So Jacobson and his men,
after hearing the first account of the incident York ever told, helped
to return the prisoners – which proved to have its own obvious problem.
Fifteen Americans do not just walk into an Allied camp with 132 German
soldiers without someone thinking something is fishy. But after a short
delay, and the aid of a second lieutenant, York and Jacobson were
allowed to return.
At Argonne, the 82nd was relieved by the 42nd Division, but a short time later the 82nd was to gather around.
“He simply read the proclamation,” Jacobson said, “then we understood the quiet. We had heard rumors before. We all went wild.”
Jacobson’
unit remained in France through the winter – at one point it was
quarantined because of the flu. He was finally able to return to New
York July 13, 1919 and moved to Marcus two days later. While engaged in
farming, Jacobson moved to Larrabee and entered the harness and
gasoline business – “the gasoline rationing in the ‘40s put a stop to
the one business.” – and became postmaster Jan 1, 1947, and served
until 1966.
Jacobson feels that today’s soldier is much the same
as the doughboy GI’s he served with. “If you can keep the morale up,
American GI’s will always be the same. They’ll grumble a lot, but
they’ll know their job and do it,” he said. The problem in Vietnam was
that “the situation there was different than anyone faced before – the
situation, not the men,” he said. “If he (the GI) is convinced that he
has something to fight for, he will.”
Jacobson is a m ember of the J. K. Stanford American Legion Post, 670 in Larrabee, which he founded in 1945.
Source: Cherokee
County Historical Society scrapbook, article is hand dated 11-11-1972.
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