Jefferson J. DeBlanc Sr.
You Tube Video - Dogfights: Guadalcanal : Jefferson DeBlanc, Wildcat stud!
Posted on 11/28/2007 7:43:31 PM PST by concentric circles
Jefferson J. DeBlanc, seated in the cockpit of a F4F Wildcat fighter plane, found ways to beat death for three years. But on Thanksgiving Day, DeBlanc, a Marine pilot in World War II's Pacific Theater, passed away from complications related to pneumonia. He was 86.
So many World War II veterans have died recently that we don't often pause to pay them the honor they're due. DeBlanc may provide a chance to make up for it. DeBlanc wore the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor.
DeBlanc, born in Lockport, enlisted in the Marines five months before Pearl Harbor. He was sent to Guadalcanal with only a few hours in the Wildcat. But, less than three months after finishing advanced training, he flew a mission the Guadalcanal campaign in which he shot down three Japanese planes. Two months after that mission, on Jan. 31, 1943, DeBlanc led fighters on an escort mission for U.S. dive bombers that were going up after Japanese ships. His Wildcat developed a fuel leak so bad that he told his base that he might need rescue personnel.
Even so, he continued to protect the bombers, cover their return from the target area and engage in another dogfight. DeBlanc shot down five Japanese planes before he and his plane were hit, forcing him to parachute into Vella Gulf in an area held by the enemy.
Although he was wounded in his legs and back, he swam to a nearby island and lived on coconuts for a few days before he was found by some native people. They swapped him for a bag of rice to people from another tribe. The second group led him to a Christian missionary, who got him to Allied coast-watchers, who arranged for him to be picked up by seaplane Feb. 12, 1943.
DeBlanc turned 22 three days later. And that's how you win a Medal of Honor.
DeBlanc fought at Okinawa before returning home to earn his undergraduate degree from Southwestern Louisiana Institute in 1947, two master's degrees, in physics education in 1951 and mathematics education in 1963, from Louisiana State University and a doctorate in education from McNeese State University in 1973.
We've become accustomed over the last 15 or 20 years to the fact that the World War II generation is slipping away. We can't hold on to them.
But we shouldn't let go of their stories and accomplishments, whether they were anonymous GIs or celebrated war heroes. In a time of petty arguments, when self-interest is the only interest that seems to matter, their transcendent courage should inspire us to do better.
"...On Jan. 31, 1943, then-Lt. DeBlanc took off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, leading a six-plane escort for a strike force of dive bombers that was to attack Japanese ships off Kolombagara Island in the Solomons. Two of the F4F-3 Wildcat fighters were crippled by mechanical problems shortly after takeoff, and the 21-year-old lieutenant, who already had three kills to his credit, was in trouble because of a malfunctioning auxiliary fuel tank. Although he knew he was too low on fuel to complete the mission and get back to Henderson Field, Lt. DeBlanc radioed his fellow pilots that he wasn't turning back.
As the American planes reached their rendezvous point, Japanese Zeros swarmed to intercept. The American pilots drove them away, but when Lt. DeBlanc saw that Japanese float planes had intercepted U.S. dive bombers beginning their attack, he descended and shot down two of them.
As the four remaining Wildcats headed home, a dozen Zeros emerged from the sun's glare. Lt. DeBlanc shot down one and destroyed another; he watched it explode directly in front of his plane. Flying through the debris, he shot down yet another, his fifth of the day, seconds before bullets shattered his cockpit. He said in a 1998 interview that he had just glanced at his watch when his instrument panel exploded in his face and the watch flew off his wrist.
Lt. DeBlanc bailed out into shark-infested waters and then had to decide whether to swim to Plum Island or try to make it to the larger Kolombagara Island. Supported by his life jacket but with salt water burning shrapnel wounds in his back, arms and legs, he swam to the larger island eight miles away. It took him all night.
For three days, he subsisted on coconuts until a group of indigenous people found him and bartered him to another tribe for a sack of rice. "Most people live their entire lives without knowing exactly what they're worth. I know exactly what I'm worth -- a 10-pound sack of rice," he said in a History Channel documentary that aired this year.
The second tribe hid him, cared for his wounds and then took him by outrigger canoe to the home of an Anglican missionary. The missionary contacted Allied authorities, who arranged for a Navy patrol bomber to land just off the island; tribal members paddled Lt. DeBlanc to the plane in a canoe. He made it back to the hospital at Henderson Field three days before his 22nd birthday..."
Brokaw's correct.They *are* the Greatest Generation.
I saw Mr. Deblanc on the History Channel’s “Dog fights” program, what he did was simply amazing.
U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) Col Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc, Sr.'s last words before his death Thursday were, "I give myself to you, Jesus."
He said it three times his daughter Barbara Romero said.
The 1946 Congressional Medal of Honor recipient will be buried following a noon mass Monday at St. Martin de Tours Roman Catholic Church in St. Martinville. He was 86... "He was home and had 24-hour care the last year, but he still had a full life," Romero said. "He had hobbies. He loved to tinker with electronics. He loved to ride his bike. He loved to cut grass. He loved the senior citizen Olympics, where he competed in the pole vault..."
"...I was very close to my father," she said. "I could always talk to him. He taught me to drive. He taught school. He was very friendly with his students. He would come into the classroom and say, 'I lost the test.' Then he would look around and find it in the trash can. Of course he placed it in the trash can. He had a great sense of humor."
“They swapped him for a bag of rice to people from another tribe. “
The History Channel did a show/interview on him this year. He’s quoted as saying “very few men know their exact worth. I know mine. One bag of rice.”
Tears, and Thanksgiving to our Lord for Col. Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc, Sr.
What a story! Can you imagine....?
RIP brave Marine!
Remarkable man. Remarkable life. Godspeed, Mr. DeBlanc. You done good.
If you have broadband check out the link at the bottom of post #2. It’s the segment from History Channel’s Dogfights featuring DeBlanc retelling his story, including the computer generated visualization of the air combat.
I like his description of blasting a Zero to pieces and seeing the engine tumbling end over end right past him. Another Zero had him dead to rights, he lived to tell about it while the other pilot met his maker.
Nuts.
1) The clamoring for "free" drugs and "free" everything else should disabuse us of that notion
and
2) If you don't think that the current crop of 18-30 year-olds we have serving in hostile territory now is every bit as good as the subset of American life who actually served in WWII, I urge you to reconsider.
RIP, COL Jefferson DeBlanc, Sr. And thank you for everything you did for our country.
|
Gone to his reward, I do hope to meet him on the other side as part of mine.
May God bless you, Col. Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc, Sr.
A few weeks back, I’m driving in town. This guy has a Medal of Honor drivers license plate on his car. Never seen that before.... Then yesterday, see that very few, like only 150 people alive have that honor? I felt priveleged to see that guy in his p/u truck. It was in Tacoma WA, the man must have been about 70 ish? Wonder who that might have been?
Another hero to honor and remember. I appreciate my Dad and his WWII experiences that much more with each passing of a WWII vet.
Rest in peace, brave Marine. Would have loved to sit and listen to your stories.
I don't have to reconsider because I,like you,know that there are a lot of outstanding,brave kids serving today.But the percentage that these kids represent of their entire generation is *much* smaller than was the case with the WW II generation.
Well done, Marine. Semper Fi.
Rest In Peace.
Thanks!!
There will be more from this neck of the woods, with Ft Lewis and McHord AFB here. I’m honored to live in the neighborhood with those folks. At the bank I work at, we see the fighting troops all the time. I never know what to say to them, I know how brave they are, and what they do. They are so mild mannered, professional, polite. We have had the wives of the fallen come to the branch, very very sad. Also, some disfigured, burned, broken, as we also have Madigan Army Hospital here too.
I know what you mean. But I've kind of overcome it -- I just walk right up to someone I see in uniform and say "Hey -- I noticed your uniform and I just wanted to say thanks!" That's all it takes -- and it does mean a lot to them. (Rah! rah! rah! Go get 'em!) :-)
Amen.
On Veterans Day, went to the monday night football game in Seattle. Bunch of servicemen there, outside. I did just that, thanked them for their service to the country. On the other hand, some goofball was carrying some anti war sign, which I thought was in poor taste considering the day, so I gave him both fingers, and a very loud F U. Another guy, looked at me very startled, then said “good job”. Sometimes, you got to call it the way it is, instead of being “respectful of their opinion”. That day, I decided to vocally disagree...
And more than a couple of tears! Semper Fi Marine!
I’ll miss these guys - every one.
By Theodore O'Hara
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on Life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents to spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.
Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground
Ye must not slumber there,
Where stranger steps and tongues resound
Along the heedless air.
Your own proud land's heroic soil
Shall be your fitter grave;
She claims from war his richest spoil --
The ashes of her brave.
This is an exerpt of the poem. The full work, and the story behind it, can be read here.
My grandfather had the honor of serving with then-Sergeant Ross in the 1950's, when they were both assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
“Most people live their entire lives without knowing exactly what they’re worth. I know exactly what I’m worth — a 10-pound sack of rice,”
***Rest in peace, soldier. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
My father is in this group; add a Korean war vet too.
He’s 85 and still ruling the remote control.
Let's not disrespect a fallen hero.
I can never hear that song and keep my eyes dry.
Through all our trials in life, fighting the evil that comes our way is our greatest duty.
Thank God for the wonderful people who rise to the occasion.
LOL!! It’s all good — and I’m sure the good guys appreciated it!
Saw this guy on “Dogfights” on the History Channel. Man, he was tough.
A hero proved in liberating strife. Rest in Peace, Sir.
That's wonderful. I can't wait to meet him.
Holy smokes, that was one fight he put up!
Oh!I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings,
sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swunghigh in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind swept heights with easy grace
where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
killed in England Dec. 1941 19 years old
Yes it was. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Ross a few years ago, during a reunion of the 2nd of the 14th ACR at Fort Knox. My grandfather was the oldest living former battalion commander (sadly he’s passed away since then), so he and Mr. Ross were the two guests of honor at the dinner, where they were mobbed by dozens of young officers who were anxious to speak with them and shake their hands. They both had the time of their lives that night.
My clients are all old, very old, or near death. I have heard the most incredible stories from people, many related to war, or service.
I’ll share one with you.
An old guy, been a client for years. he was a artillery spotter in Italy near the end of the war. He spotted a massive concentration of axis armor. He called in a massive bombardment, blew the armor, and town to bits. He thought he’d done good, maybe even shortened the war.
When he gets to town, the folk come up, in shock, their town of 1000 yrs had just been leveled. He’s now finishing this story, with tears rolling down his face, upset as if it happened last week, not 60 plus years ago.
Dang huh?
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
on Jan. 31, 1943, DeBlanc led fighters on an escort mission for U.S. dive bombers that were going up after Japanese ships. His Wildcat developed a fuel leak so bad that he told his base that he might need rescue personnel. Even so, he continued to protect the bombers, cover their return from the target area and engage in another dogfight. DeBlanc shot down five Japanese planes before he and his plane were hit, forcing him to parachute into Vella Gulf in an area held by the enemy. Although he was wounded in his legs and back, he swam to a nearby island and lived on coconuts for a few days before he was found by some native people. They swapped him for a bag of rice to people from another tribe. The second group led him to a Christian missionary, who got him to Allied coast-watchers, who arranged for him to be picked up by seaplane Feb. 12, 1943. DeBlanc turned 22 three days later. And that's how you win a Medal of Honor.Bravo, and bon voyage.
Autumn, 1942: It came down to one Marine, and one ship
Source: Enter Stage Right - A Journal of Modern Conservatism
Published: October 23, 2000 Author: Vin Suprynowicz
Posted on 10/23/2000 10:11:29 PDT by gordgekko
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39f47141497d.htm
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:
Please ping me to all note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) Col Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc, Sr.'s last words before his death Thursday were, "I give myself to you, Jesus."He said it three times his daughter Barbara Romero said.
The 1946 Congressional Medal of Honor recipient will be buried following a noon mass Monday at St. Martin de Tours Roman Catholic Church in St. Martinville. He was 86... "He was home and had 24-hour care the last year, but he still had a full life," Romero said. "He had hobbies. He loved to tinker with electronics. He loved to ride his bike. He loved to cut grass. He loved the senior citizen Olympics, where he competed in the pole vault..."
"...I was very close to my father," she said. "I could always talk to him. He taught me to drive. He taught school. He was very friendly with his students. He would come into the classroom and say, 'I lost the test.' Then he would look around and find it in the trash can. Of course he placed it in the trash can. He had a great sense of humor."
ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.