Posted on 01/31/2008 7:55:12 PM PST by Dubya
NEW ORLEANS -- Only weeks before he died, a retired fighter pilot who shot down five Japanese planes during the Battle of Guadalcanal and his family decided that the National World War II Museum should have his Medal of Honor.
On Thursday, the 65th anniversary of that firefight, the museum formally unveiled the medal and related items donated by the family of Col. Jefferson DeBlanc, who was a lieutenant in the Marines and barely in his 20s on Jan. 31, 1943.
Until his death on Thanksgiving, he was the last surviving recipient of the medal from World War II in Louisiana, said Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller, president and CEO of the museum.
Barbara DeBlanc Romero told an audience of about 150 that her father showed off and bragged about medals he won in the Senior Olympics, but kept the Medal of Honor in its box, bringing it out only if someone asked to see it.
"He never, ever, ever, bragged about it," she said.
She said her father felt that the Medal of Honor "was never his alone, but belonged to all the soldiers who fought to keep our country free."
DeBlanc's four sons, Richard, Frank, Michael and Monsignor Jefferson DeBlanc Jr., also participated in the ceremony, attended by about 150 people, including relatives from sisters-in-law to great-grandsons.
In addition to the medal - the second donated to the museum - the family gave related items including the citation describing DeBlanc's actions, a photograph of President Harry S Truman shaking DeBlanc's hand, and a fishing spear from the island where he was taken captive.
It took U.S. forces six months to take Guadalcanal. DeBlanc, who wound up with nine confirmed "kills" of enemy aicraft, got five of them when he led six planes to provide air cover for a bombing raid against the the Japanese in the Solomon Islands on Jan. 31, 1943.
The islands were so far from the Naval base at Henderson Field that the fighter planes needed external fuel tanks to get there and back, museum historian Martin K.A. Morgan said. As DeBlanc headed out, he realized that his were leaking.
"Knowing he would not have enough fuel to return, he stayed with the bombers," Morgan said.
Once there, he shot down two Japanese float planes and a fighter. As the squadron headed back to Henderson, DeBlanc spotted two more Japanese planes coming up behind the bombers. All six American fighters were low on fuel. Henderson ordered the rest of the group back to base.
"Undaunted, he opened fire and blasted both Zeros from the sky in short, bitterly fought action which resulted in such hopeless damage to his plane that he was forced to bail out at a perilously low altitude atop the trees on enemy-held Kolombangara," the citation for his medal states.
Kolombarangara Island tribesmen captured him but traded him to a friendly tribe for a 10-pound sack of rice.
One grabbed DeBlanc's belt buckle from him. Since soldiers had been told never to show any fear of the natives, Romero said, "Dad grabbed his spear. ... It hung on our wall for years."
He was eventually picked up by a Navy float plane and reunited with his squadron.
He said in 1998 that he used a Japanese uniform stolen from a barge and traveled by night to reach a place where U.S. forces could be contacted and pick him up.
DeBlanc recovered from his wounds and went on to see action in several other campaigns in the war.
A book by DeBlanc - "The Guadalcanal Air War: Col. Jefferson DeBlanc's Story" - on the spring publication list for Pelican Publishing Co. of Gretna. It is due out in April, Frank DeBlanc said.
The four World War II veterans in the audience included Rene Jean Broussard of New Iberia, another retired Marine whose history crossed DeBlanc's during the six-month fight for Guadalcanal.
He was on the USS Jenkins, which was at Guadalcanal from Jan. 4-Nov. 11, 1943 and rescued DeBlanc when he had to ditch his plane because an oil line broke when he was flying at 10,000 feet.
"He said he got on the wing three times to jump, but knew he couldn't make it. He got back in and came down to about 100 feet and landed his plane in the wake of our ship," Broussard said. "We picked him up and put him in the boiler room to dry out. Then we took him back ... to fly again."
Although New Iberia is only eight miles from St. Martinville, where DeBlanc lived, the pair didn't realize their connection until they met at a Marine Corps League meeting seven years ago, Broussard said.
DeBlanc's medal was among 464 Medals of Honor issued for bravery during a war which saw 16 million Americans in the uniformed services, Mueller said.
The museum's other Medal of Honor was awarded to Johnnie David Hutchins, a Naval Reserve seaman who managed to swerve his LST (landing ship, tanks) out of a torpedo's path even though he had been mortally wounded when two bombs hit near the pilot house. Hutchins is buried at Eagle Lake near Houston.
Medal of Honor PING!
God Bless You Col. DeBlanc.
Isn’t it amazing how real heroes never belive they are deserving of honors bestowed on them?
Crud,can’t even spell believe.
Did you know that John Kerry served in Cambodia? or was it Vietnam? No, it was Laos, or Thailand, or maybe he got lost in Burma.
Got a Purple Heart for blowing up a rice bin and getting rice kernels in his hip and ass. That medal is now known as the Purple Ass award.
LeBlanc was a real hero and a modest one. That is the true mark of “an officer and a gentleman”, something Kerry never was nor could ever be.
Capish?
Just damn.
Thanks for the info, Dubya.
Semper Fi, Marine
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