August 24, 2003 

(Skokie) Nearly 60 years ago, Erwin Jacobson earned six medals in the South Pacific during World War II. The Skokie man finally received the hardware after a decade long battle with Army bureaucracy.

"I wanted my granddaughter to have something to remember," said Jacobson, 81, after a small presentation ceremony last week in the Chicago office of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who joined his fight in March.

As a radio repairman with the Army Amphibious Corps from 1942 to 1945, Jacobson saw heavy combat during the invasions of the Japanese strongholds of Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands. After his discharge he was in such to get home that he arrived in Chicago in December without a jacket, much less any decorations.

When his granddaughter was born in 1993, he decided the medals would make a great keepsake. Retired from his service-station equipment business, he began a frustrating letter-writing campaign to obtain them.

He told the Army last November, "I do not wish to be decorated posthumously."

With a little help from his congresswoman, Jacobson received long-overdue recognition with his wife, son and granddaughter at his side.

"I'm sorry that it was kind of aggravating and took a long time for you to get them," Schakowsky said as she gave Jacobson a frame containing his Bronze Star, Presidential Unit Citation and four other awards. He promptly handed the medals to his granddaughter.

"I'm just really proud of him," said Eryn, 10.