Joe M. Jackson

"I was three years old, maybe four, and one of my brothers and I, we'd been fishing, and we were walking down the road when this airplane flew over, and it started doing acrobatics in the sky, around the clouds. I looked up and thought that it would be the greatest thing in the whole world if I could do that. I remember that specifically. That was the first thing I remember in my life."

"A unique thing about this was that this is the only mission, the only activity that resulted in an award of the Medal of Honor where a photograph was made of it while it was taking place. I have that photograph. It was shot from the air. I don't know who took it. But it shows my plane on the runway, the wrecked helicopter, and you can just make out two little dots showing two of the three guys as they were running for the plane."

"I mentioned this happened on Mother's Day? Well, I'm the only guy I know of that gets Mother's Day cards. I used to get them from guys that were in the Army that were in that battalion that went in to reinforce. Last year I got one from a newspaper editor down here in southwest Washington."

"I never thought about it. I was sent there to participate, but they still wanted to know if there was anybody who would volunteer to pick these guys up. My answer is, 'It was the right thing to do. And I was the most logical person to do it.' By that time I was a military professional. My thoughts were: You should save your butt. The mission was to get the three guys, I got the three guys, and we got of there okay, and I'm happy. That's the limit of my thinking. If you start thinking about medals, you're gonna lose your shirt. I've heard of several people who set out to win, not win, but be awarded the Medal of Honor, and, to my knowledge, every one of them got killed."

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Jackson distinguished himself as a pilot of a C-123 aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson volunteered to attempt the rescue of a three-man USAF Combat Control Team from the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc. Hostile forces had overrun the forward outpost and established gun positions on the airstrip. They were raking the camp with small-arms, mortars, light and heavy automatic-weapons, and recoilless-rifle fire. The camp was engulfed in flames and ammunition dumps were continuously exploding and littering the runway with debris. In addition, eight aircraft had been destroyed by the intense enemy fire and one aircraft remained on the runway reducing its usable length to only 2,200 feet. To further complicate the landing, the weather was deteriorating rapidly, thereby permitting only one air strike prior to his landing. Although fully aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, Lt. Col. Jackson elected to land his aircraft and attempt to rescue. Displaying superb airmanship and extraordinary heroism, he landed his aircraft near the point where the combat control team was reported to be hiding. While on the ground, his aircraft was the target of intense hostile fire. A rocket landed in front of the nose of the aircraft but failed to explode. Once the combat control team was aboard, Lt. Col. Jackson succeeded in getting airborne despite the hostile fire directed across the runway in front of his aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson's profound concern for his fellow men, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country."