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Congressional Medal of Honor - Louisiana Recipients
As Louisianans, we recall with pride the heroism of Marine Captain Jefferson DeBlanc of St. Martinville who, as a fighter pilot with Marine Fighter Squadron 112, in the Solomon Islands in 1943 displayed "conspicuous gallantry.. .at the risk of his life" and in so doing earned our nation's highest decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
We remember with equal pride, Marine PFC Raymond Mike Clausen of Ponchatoula who, while serving with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 in Viet Nam in 1970, demonstrated "conspicuous gallantry... at the risk of his life" by disregarding danger and rescuing stranded and wounded Marines from a minefield thus earning the Congressional Medal of Honor. The following article appeared in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, on Sunday, January 31, 1993, and appears here with permission from The Times-Picayune and writer Robert Buckman.
Medal of Honor Winner Recalls South Pacific Saga By Robert Buckman
Contributing Writer
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. --The passage of 50 years has not dimmed Jeff DeBlanc's memory of the day that almost cost him his life but instead won him the nation's highest decoration for Valor.
The day was Jan. 31, 1943. The place was the sky over the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Within a five-minute span, DeBlanc shot down two Japanese float planes and three Zeroes and then bailed out of his burning Grumman Wildcat.
In the ensuing 12 days, the wounded DeBlanc swam for six hours to a Japanese-held island and lived for three days on coconuts before being captured by a tribe of natives who traded him for a sack of rice to another tribe, who turned him over to a British missionary who notified Allied coast-watchers, who arranged for his rescue.
Through it all, the cocky 21-year-old Marine second lieutenant never doubted he would come through. "I just figured I'd steal a Zero to get home," the retired physics and math teacher, now 71, said as he sat at the dining table of his home in this Acadiana town. "I always figured I'd survive the war. I don't know why. If you did survive the first 10 or 12 days, you had a good chance of surviving the war."
Nor did DeBlanc believe at the time that he was doing anything heroic. But four years later, President Harry S. Truman hung the Medal of Honor around his neck, placing him in one of the nation's most exclusive fraternities.
Only 99 Medal of Honor recipients from World War II are still living; DeBlanc is the last in Louisiana. "The runway's getting pretty short," he reflected.
In pilot program
Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc's path to glory began in 1940 at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He signed up for the Civilian Pilot Program, then quit school to join the Marine flight program. He was sent to Lakefront Airfield in New Orleans, then to Corpus Christi, Texas, for advanced training. He was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
In November 1942, after carrier training in California, DeBlanc and his unit were shipped to Guadalcanal. He and his comrades were assigned to Marine Fighting Squadron 112, equipped with Wildcats.
"I was sent over there with only four hours in Wildcats - no gunnery, no night flying," DeBlanc said. "The Wildcat was a flying brick."
The Wildcats' nemesis, the Zero, was armed with two 2Omm cannons and two 30-caliber machine guns. The Wildcats had six 50-caliber machine guns. The Zero had no armor, making it more vulnerable than the Wildcat, but more maneuverable.
On Jan.31, De Blanc's flight of eight Wildcats escorted 12 dive bombers in an attack on a fleet of cargo ships. The mission was 250 miles out, meaning fuel would permit only 15 minutes on station.
"By the time' "we got to the fleet, all hell broke loose," DeBlanc said. "The dive bombers went into their action, and (the Japanese) had float planes that stayed about 2,000 feet above the fleet. When the dive bombers would rendezvous, that's when they were the most vulnerable, and the float planes would shoot them down."
DeBlanc quickly shot down two float planes.
"Then over the radio someone yelled Zeroes!" DeBlanc said. "Sure enough there they were, coming straight for us. They didn't see me, they saw the others and were watching them. That's when I got the first one."
At this point, the bombers were heading home. The fighter pilots' job technically was over.
Left alone in air
"But the fellow, to the left of me had got shot down, so that left me alone," DeBlanc said. "Two Zeroes came after me, and I knew I couldn't outrun them, so I figured, well, let me draw them away from the bombers."
DeBlanc downed one of the Zeros, but the other pulled up above him and began a high-speed dive.
"This guy was too eager for the kill, I could sense it," he said. "So what I did was chop my throttle, skidded, and he pulled back to shoot me down, but he was coming too fast so he sailed right past.
"I can still see eyes, cause we locked eyes when he passed me. I don't know whether he knew he was a dead man or what, but he. .knew he was never going to escape those 50-caliber's. He stayed put and flew straight ahead and I shot him down,"
It was DeBlanc's fifth confirmed victory of the day, but his sense of triumph mph was fleeting. He let down his guard, and glanced at his watch.
"A 2Omm' came, over my left shoulder and tore that watch right off my wrist, hit the dashboard and set it on fire," DeBlanc said.
He bailed out. "I don't even remember member pulling lling the ripcord," he said. "The adrenaline was flowing. I played dead in the parachute."
After he hit the water, DeBlanc discovered shrapnel wounds on his arms, legs and chest. He swam for six hours to enemy-held Kolombangara.
Traded for bag of rice
For three days he lived in an abandoned hut before being apprehended by a tribe he feared were headhunters. But they bartered him for a sack of rice to another tribe, which brought him before their chief.
"We had been told that if the natives took something from you you take something from them," he said. "So the chief grabbed my Marine Corps belt buckle, and I reached up and grabbed his spear."
Today, the, nine-foot spear adorns his dining-room wall.
Tribesmen carried DeBlanc by outrigger canoe to the home of an Anglican missionary, who forwarded him to two coast-watchers. A Navy patrol bomber picked him up Feb.12 three days before his 22nd birthday.
"I think I got the Medal of Honor because I was the first Marine Corps pilot to shoot down five airplanes in one flight," DeBlanc said. "They had a Navy guy who did it before -O'Hare, who the airfield is named for in Chicago - so they figured if the Navy got it let's give one to the Marines."
But the medal is not uppermost in 'his mind when he thinks of his long ordeal.
"My life changed when they traded me for a sack of rice," he said. "It changed all my sense of Values."
Once home, DeBlanc, rejected entreaties to enter politics, dedicating himself to teaching and earning a master's in math and a doctorate in education. He stayed in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring as a colonel in 1972, after six years as commander of Marine Air Reserve Group 18 at Belle Chasse Naval Air Station.
PFC RAYMOND M. CLAUSEN, JR.
Medal of Honor
1970
HMM-263
Vietnam
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS RAYMOND M. CLAUSEN, JR.
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, Marine Aircraft Group 16, First Marine Aircraft Wing, during operations against enemy forces in the Republic of Vietnam on 31 January 1970. Participating in a helicopter rescue mission to extract elements of a platoon which had inadvertently entered a minefield while attacking enemy positions, Private First Class Clausen skillfully guided the helicopter pilot to a landing in an area cleared by one of several mine explosions. With eleven Marines wounded, one dead, and the remaining eight Marines holding their positions for fear of detonating other mines, Private First Class Clausen quickly leaped from the helicopter and, in the face of enemy fire, moved across the extremely hazardous, mine-laden area to assist in carrying casualties to the waiting helicopter and in placing them aboard. Despite the ever-present threat of further mine explosions, he continued his valiant efforts, leaving the comparatively safe area of the helicopter on six separate occasions to carry out his rescue efforts. On one occasion while he was carrying one of the wounded, another mine detonated, killing a corpsman and wounding three other men. Only when he was certain that all Marines were safely aboard did he signal the pilot to lift the helicopter. By his courageous, determined and inspiring efforts in the face of the utmost danger, Private First Class Clausen upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.
1st LT JEFFERSON J. DEBLANC
Medal of Honor
1943
VMA-112
Solomon Islands
FIRST LIEUTENANT JEFFERSON J. DEBLANC
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader of a Section of Six Fighter Planes in Marine Fighting Squadron ONE HUNDRED TWELVE, during aerial operations against enemy Japanese forces off Kolombangara Island in the Solomons Group, 31 January 1943. Taking off with his section as escort for a strike force of dive bombers and torpedo planes ordered to attack Japanese surface vessels, First Lieutenant DeBlanc led his flight directly to the target area where, at 14,000 feet, our strike force encountered a large number Japanese Zeros protecting the enemy's surface craft. In company with the other fighters, First Lieutenant DeBlanc instantly engaged the hostile planes and aggressively countered their repeated attempts to drive off our bombers, persevering in his efforts to protect the diving planes and waging fierce combat until, picking up a call for assistance from the dive bombers under attack by enemy float planes at 1,000 feet, he broke off his engagement with the Zeros, plunged into the formation of float planes and disrupted the savage attack, enabling our dive bombers and torpedo planes to complete their runs on the Japanese surface disposition and to withdraw without further incident. Although his escort mission was fulfilled upon the safe retirement of the bombers, First Lieutenant DeBlanc courageously remained on the scene despite a rapidly diminishing fuel supply and, boldly challenging the enemy's superior number of float planes, fought a valiant battle against terrific odds, seizing the tactical advantage and striking repeatedly to destroy three of the hostile aircraft and to disperse the remainder. Prepared to maneuver his damaged plane back to base, he had climbed aloft and set his course when he discovered two Zeros closing in behind. Undaunted, he opened fire and blasted both Zeros from the sky in short, bitterly fought action which resulted in such hopeless damage to his plane that he was forced to bail out at a perilously low altitude atop the trees on enemy-held Kolombangara. A gallant officer, a superb airman and an indomitable fighter, First Lieutenant DeBlanc had rendered decisive assistance during a critical stage of operations, and his unwavering fortitude in the face of overwhelming opposition reflects the highest credit upon himself and adds new luster to the traditions of the United States Naval Service.
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