Peter Jacobs' prescription for longevity is "work hard, eat good, and live an interesting life." Jacobs has lived 85 years by his own advice. It has not been uneventful.
A young graduate of Rutgers University, in 1939 Jacobs worked for the National Bank of New Jersey in the town of New Brunswick. At the same time, his country was looking for a few good men.
"I did what a good, down-to-earth, male, human being is required to do," Jacobs said. "I signed up for the draft."
His number came up early, and he was drafted into the Army to serve one year. To Ft. Dix, New Jersey, in June 1941, Jacobs reported for basic training. He quickly discovered his status as a draftee.
"You're a rookie or a greenhorn if there ever was," Jacobs said.
His first duty assignment after boot camp was Ft. Jay, New York, headquarters of the United States First Army. Ft. Jay is on Governors Island in New York Harbor.
"You can see the Statue of Liberty from there," Jacobs said.
At Ft. Jay, Jacobs was a private and an office clerk. He earned 70 cents a day, 21 dollars per month.
"You can get no lower down in rank than that," he said. He applied himself and soon made corporal.
Sunday, December 7, 1941, Jacobs had the day off. He showed his pass to the MP's and boarded a ferry for the mainland. He was on his way to Newark, New Jersey to meet his mother for Sunday lunch. They were dining at a restaurant when news of Pearl Harbor broke.
Jacobs remembers, "Customers were saying, 'Have you heard what's happening? The Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor.'"
More news reports followed. These included a broadcast telling all uniformed military personnel to return to post. Jacobs said goodbye and made his way back.
Back on post, Jacobs considered his new situation. When drafted, he was told he would serve one year. Now everything was different.
"My mind was saying, 'You're not going to get out of this military service this June of '42. The President said we were at war.'"
The young soldier learned his enlistment would be extended for the duration. Faced with a long-term obligation, Jacobs decided not to face it as an enlisted man. He applied for Officers Candidate School and was accepted. Jacobs spent the summer of 1942 at Ft. Benning, Georgia in a crash course to become an infantry officer.
"You've heard of 90-day wonders?" he asked. "If you're still going strong after 90 days, it's a wonder."
OCS survivors graduated as 2nd lieutenants, the lowest ranking commissioned officers. All graduates received assignments to infantry divisions bound overseas. Jacobs' assignment was to the 45th Division "Thunderbirds", based in Oklahoma. However, his first job with the 45th was not at their home base. They sent him to Ft. Gillem Army Depot, southeast of Atlanta.
"I was doing what it took to get our unit supplied with necessary things to go into combat," Jacobs said.
He was courting as well. Jacobs met his future wife at Ft. Gillem. She worked at the base as a civilian secretary. The two were married before Jacobs left for Norfolk, Virginia to ship overseas. They are still married today.
Jacobs caught up with the 45th Division in time to embark with the convoy bound for North Africa. Their destination was the Algerian coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
"It was a convoy of a lot of Liberty Ships," Jacobs said. "We had to be alert all the time, wondering if we would be running into German subs that were going to blow us up."
Passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, the convoy arrived safely at the Port of Oran. Once ashore, preparation began for the Allied invasion of Sicily. General George Patton took charge of American forces staging for the invasion. The 1st, 3rd, and 45th Infantry Divisions combined to form the U.S. Seventh Army under Patton's command. During the build-up, Jacobs met the general.
"The first time I got to be in his presence was in North Africa," Jacobs said. "He was talking to all the commissioned officers from 2nd lieutenant on up. I was on of 'em getting briefed for the invasion of Sicily.
"Holy Christmas, it didn't take long for anybody to find out that this was an officer, and you could believe anything he said. You would lay down your life for him. He was that convincing."
The test came soon enough. The invasion of the island of Sicily began at 2:45 in the morning of 10 July 1943. It was a combined assault by British and American forces against German and Italian defenders.
The U.S. 45th Infantry Division struck the island at a place called Scoglitti. Ferried from ship to shore in Navy landing craft, Jacobs' unit stepped off into three feet of water. With a 45-caliber side arm, a carbine strapped across his back, 2nd lieutenant Pete Jacobs led his platoon ashore. Enemy machine gun fire pinned them to the beach while German planes strafed the shoreline.
"We were instructed to take cover, make cover the best way we could," Jacobs said. For ten hours they battled on the sand. Finally, the Americans established a foothold and began to move inland. Jacobs remembers heading a burial detail the next day, covering comrades who died in the landing. Soon he was moving with the Allied armies northward across Sicily.
"Our job," Jacobs said, "was to wipe out the enemy, Germans and Italians, as soon as possible. Within a week we had he enemy off Sicily and on to Italy."
Before long, Eisenhower transferred Patton to England to assist with preparations for the Normandy Invasion. General Mark Clark would lead the invasion of Italy.
The landings on mainland Italy proved as desperate as those on Sicily. Fortunately, Jacobs' unit was spared the bulk of the fury. They landed near Naples after the initial invasion.
Faced with the Allied conquest of their homeland, the Italians capitulated. Mussolini was deposed. Italy broke her alliance with Germany and decided to cooperate with the Allies.
As Americans drove the Germans steadily northward, General Clark posted troops to secure the conquered territory. Toward the Italians, Clark assumed a diplomatic role. Jacobs served with Clark's army of occupation and sometimes mediated with local government officials.
When the Americans occupied Florence, General Clark found a villa he wished to make his residence. The owners were not to be found. Locals said the family had refugeed to Austria. The general assigned Jacobs to find them and negotiate a lease.
"I flew to Austria to arrange a lease with the family," Jacobs said, "so they wouldn't feel the Americans had just come in and taken their property. I considered that a choice assignment."
The regular routine was less exotic. Jacobs continued in administration as a problem solver and received a promotion. During the occupation, he lived in an army tent for a year and a half.
In spring 1945, Germany surrendered. With the Allied victory in Europe, Jacobs' thoughts turned homeward. He was a married man and ready to resume civilian life. The Army wanted him to stay and continue to assist with the occupation. They offered a promotion to captain as an incentive. Jacobs made a counter offer.
"Let me get back to the states," he told them, "with an honorable discharge from active duty, and I'll sign up to be an active reserve officer."
The Army agreed and put Jacobs on a trip ship home.
Jacobs and his young bride made their new home in Atlanta. He went to work for the U. S. Treasury Department in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. He became a federal bank examiner.
He continued in the Army reserve but found promotion came slowly. It took him years to make captain. He was still a captain in the early 1960's. That is when he arranged to do his two weeks of summer Reserve duty at the Pentagon. He worked on government contracts for the Comptroller of the Army. Contacts he made at the Pentagon facilitated his promotion to major.
Lieutenant colonel came next, but it required graduation from the Armed Services Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Jacobs began the training by correspondence through his local reserve unit.
"I did what it took," he said. "It took me five years."
He graduated in ceremonies at Ft. Leavenworth in the summer of 1965. [General Myers, present Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, graduated in the same class.] Jacobs achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, U. S. Army Reserve, and retired at that rank in 1970. His combined military service spanned 30 years.
Lean and tall, Jacobs today is still the picture of a proud, old soldier. He admits the challenges he faces now are not the ones he faced as a young lieutenant. Never one to shirk his duty, Jacobs accepts all of it as part of living.
"Life," he said, "is what you make it out to be, ya know." |
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