Walter Jacobs Jr.

RALPH - Walter Jacobs, Jr., age 95, of Ralph, Ala., passed away February 3, 2018 in Northport, Ala. Services will be 11 a.m. Thursday, February 8, 2018 at Bethel Baptist Church in Ralph, Ala. with Rev. Dr. Levy Corey officiating. Burial will follow in Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery with Memory Chapel Funeral Home, a Dignity Memorial Provider, directing. Visitation will be 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. February 7, 2018 at Memory Chapel.

He was preceded in death by both parents, Walter E. Jacobs and Lillie S. Carden Jacobs; five brothers, Bernice, Albert, Woodrow, Cohen and Curtis Jacobs; one sister, Hattie Jacobs.

Survivors include two sisters, Dorothy Pearce and Annie Ruth Drummonds; and one brother, Ottis Earl Jacobs, Sr.

Walter was born on the 17th of February 1922. Like most of the young boys in this period, he attended school when he could or worked as a carpenter to support family.

In 1942, Walter enlisted into the United States Army. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the 77th Division "Liberty Patchers", 306th Infantry Regiment, F Company where he also carried the famous Browning automatic rifle. "Sergeant Walter Jacobs Jr., Infantry, United States Army, was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement against the enemy on Okinawa, May 5, 1945. Sergeant Jacobs was leading a patrol to clean out a strong force of Japanese soldiers who had infiltrated into our lines isolating five men in a forward observation post. With his patrol halted by hostile mortar, artillery and machine gun fire, displaying courage and initiative, he crawled fifteen yards under heavy enemy fire to a position where with accurate rifle fire, he killed the enemy and silenced the machine gun and retrieved the isolated men."

During this period, Walter was awarded the Purple Heart with Cluster signifying multiple wounds sustained during combat. Walter was honorably discharged from the United States Army at the end of the war and he returned home along with the other elite members of "America's Greatest Generation" and to work with his father as a carpenter.

However, Walter was not finished serving the country he loved. When the Korean Conflict escalated in 1950, Walter re-enlisted into the United States Air Force and served in several non-combat positions until honorably discharged in 1952.

Walter was a True American Hero to his family and to all that got to know him. He worked with Gulf States Paper in Tuscaloosa until his retirement. Walter was very active in leadership positions at Bethel Baptist Church, the Masonic Lodge, and in helping support his extended family until his new service to the LORD Jesus for eternity.