[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             IDENTIFICATION OF SERGEANT TIMOTHY J. JACOBSEN

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to SGT Timothy 
J. Jacobsen, a soldier from my home State of California who paid the 
ultimate price in service to our country in Vietnam.
  On September 23, 2008--more than 33 years since the end of the 
Vietnam war--the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office 
announced that the remains of SGT Jacobsen had been identified and 
would be returned to his family.
  SGT Jacobsen grew up on a dairy ranch in Ferndale, CA--the fifth of 
eight children born to Margie and Kermit Jacobsen. When his father 
started his own cattle ranch, SGT Jacobsen spent much of his free time 
working alongside him. He also started riding bulls at an early age, 
and by the time he was 18, he had become Humboldt County's top-rated 
bull rider.
  In 1967 SGT Jacobsen's older brother Skip was drafted by the Army and 
sent to Vietnam. Not long after Skip returned, SGT Jacobsen was drafted 
and left his family to serve as a doorgunner in the 101st Airborne 
Division of the United States Army.
  On May 16, 1971, SGT Jacobsen was one of four United States soldiers 
and an unknown number of Republic of Vietnam marines aboard a 
helicopter on a combat assault mission near Hue, South Vietnam. As the 
helicopter touched down at the landing zone, it came under heavy enemy 
ground fire. The pilot tried to lift off, but the damaged aircraft 
struck a tree line and exploded.
  The remains of the four U.S. soldiers on board were not recovered at 
that time, and a year later, SGT Jacobsen was declared killed in 
action.
  In 1994, recovery efforts were renewed when a joint U.S.-Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam team surveyed the crash site. Unfortunately, 
excavation of the site in 1995 did not uncover remains of the U.S. 
soldiers aboard the helicopter. However, in 2006, two re-burial sites 
associated with the incident were excavated, leading to the recovery of 
SGT Jacobsen's remains.
  SGT Jacobsen was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, commemorating 
his courage and extraordinary sacrifice in service to our country.
  He will be buried on October 4 in Ferndale, CA. The Army offered SGT 
Jacobsen full burial honors in Arlington National Cemetery, but his 
family chose his final resting place close to home. Nothing can fully 
account for the loss suffered by SGT Jacobsen's family, and all those 
who loved him. But I hope this finally brings a sense of closure and 
peace.
  As we remember SGT Jacobsen and honor his service to the United 
States we are also reminded of the nearly 1,800 service members who 
remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam war.
  Men and women like Timothy J. Jacobsen from towns and cities across 
California, and across America, went off to fight in Vietnam. Many of 
them never came back. We will never forget the lives they led and the 
sacrifices they made. And we will never rest in our effort to bring 
each and every American who gave their life home to a Nation that 
honors their service, and a community that has never forgotten them.

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