Ceremony Saturday To Dedicate Jacks Memorial

RISON - The Cleveland County Veterans Association will honor the late Staff Sgt. Danny Lee Jacks and all veterans of Cleveland County during a special ceremony this Saturday morning, June 3, at the Cleveland County Veterans Park in Rison. Seating will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the ceremony to start at 11 a.m. Guests should bring their lawn chairs Staff Sgt. Jacks of the Rowell community, who died on July 12, 2022, earned the Silver Star Medal for Gallantry, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and the Purple Heart Medal during combat in Vietnam. He was inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame for exemplary leadership and courage during long range reconnaissance patrols in 1969 and 1970 while assigned to Company G (Ranger), 75th Infantry Regiment, Americas (23rd Infantry) Division. In addition, he was also inducted in the Arkansas Military Veterans Hall of Fame in 2014. John Blanchard of the Cleveland County Veterans Association said the group decided to place the statue in honor of Jacks at the Veterans Park because he is the state's most highly decorated Army Ranger from the Vietnam War era. According to his biography with the Arkansas Military Veterans Hall of Fame, Staff Sgt. Jacks was assigned the mission in August 1970 of conducting an area reconnaissance southeast of Tra Bong, Vietnam, with a secondary mission of capturing enemy personnel. While on the patrol, the team became aware of a hostile force in the vicinity. Jacks' team watched as the enemy force, consisting of more than 130 men, pass in front of his team's concealed position. The plan was to allow the enemy element to pass, picking a straggler or two at the end of the enemy column. But, as the team began to execute the plan, the team came under heavy fire as a result of a counter ambush by the enemy. Reacting to the urgency of the situation and recognizing that his team was also in danger of an assault by the larger enemy element that had passed them, Jacks immediately and unhesitatingly led a…