Joe M. Jackson
Joe Madison Jackson (March 14, 1923 – January 12, 2019) served as a career officer in the United States Air Force and received the Medal of Honor for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during the Vietnam War. On 12 May 1968, he volunteered for a dangerous impromptu rescue of three remaining Air Force members (Maj. John W. Gallagher; TSgt. Morton J. Freedman; SSgt. James G. Lundie) trapped at an overrun Army Special Forces camp. While the camp was still under heavy enemy fire from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, he skillfully piloted his C-123 cargo plane and rescued the three men. Military career Jackson, born on March 14, 1923, in Newnan, Georgia, was an avid model aircraft enthusiast in his youth. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in March 1941, a few days after his 18th birthday, in hopes of being an airplane mechanic. World War II After the United States entered World War II, Jackson was assigned to serve as crew chief aboard a B-25 Mitchell bomber. As a testament to his early flight aptitude, he substituted for a flight engineer who was sick for a training flight. During the flight, the right engine