The President in the name of Congress, has awarded more than 3,400 Medals of Honor to our nation’s bravest Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen since the decoration’s creation in 1861.
Isadore S. Jachman
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Flamierge, Belgium, 4 January 1945. Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: Berlin, Germany. G.O. No.:25, 9 June 1950. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at Flamierge, Belgium, on 4 January 1945, when his company was pinned down by enemy artillery, mortar and small arms fire, 2 hostile tanks attacked the unit, inflicting heavy casualties. S/Sgt. Jachman, seeing the desperate plight of his comrades, left his place of cover and with total disregard for his own safety dashed across open ground through a hail of fire and seizing a bazooka from a fallen comrade advanced on the tanks, which concentrated their fire on him. Firing the weapon alone, he damaged one and forced both to retire. S/Sgt. Jachman’s heroic action, in which he suffered fatal wounds, disputed the entire enemy attack, reflecting the highest credit upon himself and the parachute infantry.
[Signed President Harry S. Truman]
Jachman was mortally wounded by enemy fire, but continued to fire upon the enemy until their retreat despite his wounds. After the battle his friends found him on the battlefield with no signs of life.
The Congressional Medal of Honor, America’s highest commendation for bravery, was posthumously awarded to Isadore Jachman and presented to his parents. Jachman was buried in Adat Yisrael – Anshei Sefarad Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.
Taken from: Lubshinski-Katko, Tamar, Halochem Hayehudi Bemilchemet Haolam Hesheniya (“The Jewish Fighter in World War II”), Shiryon Press, 2005, pp. 133-135.
(Copyright © 2016 Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center)
