FIRE SWEPT TRAIL

We are the Fire Swept.

44

LEST WE FORGET

Hospitalman Russell H. Jacobson lay among the seriously wounded. Hit more than a dozen times as he raced up and down the FIRE-SWEPT TRAIL to pull casualties to safety, the “doc” had finally been felled when a slug ripped into his right hip, destroying it.

Edward F. Murphy, The Hill Fights (Presidio Press, 2003), p. 44

I started telling my dad's story for his legacy, for closure, and to finally understand what he went through.

Then I realized I'm one of countless families with a story like his. Stories that will be forgotten one day unless someone writes them down.

We cannot forget what you and your families went through for this country. Find yours below, or tell me who you carry with you.

FIRE SWEPT TRAILBack to all stories

Russell Harold Jacobson Jr.

Remembered by his son, Dave Jacobson

  • Navy hospital corpsman, HM3
  • Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines
  • Hill 861, Khe Sanh, March 1967
  • Pathology and medical education, UConn and Cape Cod Hospital
  • Norwich, Connecticut, and Plymouth, Massachusetts
  • 1946 to 2015

Sources

  • FAMILY ACCOUNT His life story and photographs, shared by his son Dave and the Jacobson family.
  • SERVICE RECORDS Unit, rank, wounds and medical retirement: his DD214 and 1967 to 1968 Navy medical records, held by the family.
  • PUBLISHED ACCOUNT His actions on Hill 861: Edward F. Murphy, The Hill Fights (Presidio Press, 2003), page 44.
  • VVMF IN MEMORY HONOREE Honored in the VVMF In Memory program, 2017. His VVMF biography is the source for his Physician Assistant degree.
  • WITNESS ACCOUNT A letter written to him in 1967 by a Marine wounded carrying him to the medevac helicopter. The original is in the family collection.
  • PUBLISHED ACCOUNT Peggy Jacobson, speaking to the Cape Cod Times at The Wall That Heals in Yarmouth, September 2026.
  • PUBLISHED ACCOUNT Education, career, family and interests: his 2015 obituary.
  • FAMILY ACCOUNT What he told his family about drinking from rivers and finding dead vegetation upstream. The VA’s presumption of exposure for service on the ground in Vietnam is a separate, official rule.

The archive

These are the Fire Swept

Read their stories

Add to any story, correct it, or ask me to remove it. Medical details and photos stay private unless you say otherwise.

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Or by last name

Snapshot

What you told me

Who was speaking

Branches

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What families reported

A snapshot of the comments I've read so far, not a scientific study. These are experiences families shared, not medical findings.

Tell us who you carry with you

I want to hear your story. If someone you love served, and their life or your family's life was changed by that service, tell me about them.

Tell me their name and what happened. What they were like before the war and after. The hard parts, the funny parts, what you want people fifty years from now to know.

Or simply: “His name was ____. Please remember him.” That counts too.

Tell as much or as little as you're comfortable telling.

ONE FAMILY. ONE STORY.

Every so often I share one veteran's story more fully on Fire Swept Trail, with the family's help and permission. If you check that box, I may reach out to learn who they were beyond their service: family, work, humor, the ordinary life.

Your contact information never appears on the site. Sending this doesn't give permission to publish anything. I'll always ask first.

What this archive is, and isn't

Fire Swept Trail preserves stories as veterans and families experienced them. Some information is supported by official records. Some is family or witness testimony and may not be verified yet. I label the source whenever I can.

This archive is for remembrance, discovery and connection. It doesn't certify medical causes, decide service connection, determine benefits, or replace official records. Where an official memorial or record exists, I'll link to it.

"Not verified" means this project hasn't documented it yet. It doesn't mean it's unimportant or untrue.

    Looking for help?

    I'm not a claims service and can't give medical or legal advice. These official pages are a good start.

    If you or someone you love is struggling: Veterans Crisis Line, dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255. VeteransCrisisLine.net

    Read Russell's story

    His full story lives at russelljacobson.com

    My father, Russell Jacobson, was a 20 year old Navy corpsman in Vietnam. On Hill 861 in 1967, he ran up and down a fire-swept trail pulling Marines to safety until he was nearly killed. Friends of his never made it off that hill.

    He came home anyway. Home to a country that didn't want to hear about it, so mostly he didn't talk about it. The war took the rest of his youth and left him a body he had to work around for the rest of his life. He built a family and a life anyway.

    Then, decades later, what our own government sprayed across Vietnam caught up with him. In 2015 he died of lymphoma, one of the cancers the VA links to Agent Orange. I've watched it take men like him slowly, painfully, without dignity.

    They survived the war. We can't let them go quietly, and we can't let their stories go quietly either.

    “Fire-swept trail” comes from page 44 of the history book where I first read what he did. It became the name of this project.

    Help tell their story

    What would you like to do?

    This comes to me privately. Nothing appears on the page until I've read it.