Arthur Jackson: The Conflicted Hero

Combat is humanity’s most dichotomous undertaking. On the one hand, it brings men to the very precipice of existence, exercising their courage in a way that more civilized pursuits simply can’t. However, at its base, the very act of institutional killing for a cause seems incongruous in a modern enlightened society. Why is it that we can land robots on Mars yet we still have to settle our squabbles by ripping the very life out of our selfless young people? Despite our Information Age trappings we are not really so far removed from the jackal or the crocodile.

Any proper human is raised to respect life. Prisons are full of those for whom that lesson is lamentably lost. In combat, we take otherwise normal young men and women and expect them to do some of the most abnormal things. 

https://gunsamerica.com/listings/search

I myself have never had to take a human life. It is my goal to meet my end with that record intact. However, it has been my privilege to get to know quite a few combat veterans who unfortunately could not make such a claim. Some handled that reality better than others. The real challenge typically seems to be that it is extremely difficult to just turn it on and off. 

The rules in Mayberry are antithetical to those in Mosul. For that reason as well as a few others I think embedded reporters in a combat zone are a really bad idea. What our troops do downrange does not translate well to the American living room. Those of us not in the suck cannot hope to understand.

In Arthur Jackson, we find an interesting dichotomy. An accomplished warrior rightfully venerated for exhibiting a level of personal valor unimaginable to most of us normal folk, he later found himself in an unexpectedly dark place. The decisions he made in both instances created a legacy from which he was never fully able to escape.

The Making of a Hero

Arthur J. Jackson originally hailed from Cleveland, Ohio. He had the poor fortune to come of age during the Great Depression. Soul-crushing poverty ages a man unduly and fast. As a result, Jackson found himself working as a teenager in Alaska for a naval construction company simply to ward off starvation. In late 1942 Arthur Jackson raised his right hand and joined the US Marine Corps.

In January of 1944, Jackson saved the life of a fellow Marine during the Cape Gloucester Campaign. He hefted the wounded man and carried him to safety across an exposed hillside in the face of heavy Japanese fire. This experience provided the first inkling of the man’s mettle.

Peleliu

In September of 1944, PFC Jackson found himself assigned to the 3d Battalion, 7^th Marines, in action on the island of Peleliu. In the face of overwhelming odds, Jackson demonstrated superhuman valor and dedication behind a Browning Automatic Rifle during the subsequent pitiless combat. Here is an excerpt from his Medal of Honor citation:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty…in action against enemy Japanese forces on the Island of Peleliu in the Palau Group, September 18, 1944…Private First Class Jackson unhesitatingly proceeded forward of our lines and, courageously defying the heavy barrages, charged a large pillbox housing approximately thirty-five enemy soldiers. Pouring his automatic fire into the opening of the fixed installation to trap the occupying troops, he hurled white phosphorus grenades and explosive charges brought up by a fellow Marine, demolishing the pillbox and killing all of the enemy. Advancing alone under the continuous fire from other hostile emplacements, he employed a similar means to smash two smaller positions in the immediate vicinity. Determined to crush the entire pocket of resistance although harassed on all sides by the shattering blasts of Japanese weapons…he stormed one gun position after another, dealing death and destruction to the savagely fighting enemy in his inexorable drive against the remaining defenses…wiping out a total of twelve pillboxes and fifty Japanese soldiers. Stouthearted and indomitable despite the terrific odds, Private First Class Jackson…contributed essentially to the complete annihilation of the enemy in the southern sector of the island. His gallant initiative and heroic conduct in the face of extreme peril reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Jackson and the US Naval Service.”

PFC Jackson was wounded during this exchange. After his recovery, he returned to combat and earned a second Purple Heart in May of 1945. Three months later he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. 

Post War Problems

After the war, 2LT Jackson tried civilian life but did not care for it. He joined the US Army Reserve and served in combat in Korea. In 1959, he returned to the Marine Corps.

September of 1961 found CPT Jackson assigned to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Gitmo has always been a strange place. Originally established as a coaling station in 1898, the original lease was $2,000 per year paid in gold. In 1974 that sum increased to $4,085 per annum. As you might imagine, the communist government in Cuba is none too thrilled with having a thriving US Navy base perched in its backyard.

Ever since 1934, the US has paid its rent by check. Only once, in 1959, did the Cubans actually deposit the check. Castro later said this was simply an administrative oversight. The original lease signed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 has no fixed expiration date. That was clearly a pretty sweet deal.

On September 30, 1961, CPT Jackson was the Company Commander of a Marine contingent tasked with guarding Gitmo. He and his XO, 1LT William Szili, had been drinking at the officer’s club. Szili returned to his quarters and went to bed only to be awakened later by the post provost marshal and told to meet CPT Jackson.

CPT Jackson reported having found a Cuban national named Ruben Sabariego in a restricted area. As this was the height of the Cold War, Cuba was dirty with spies. Sabariego worked on base as a bus driver, but Jackson became convinced he was actually an intelligence operative.

CPT Jackson decided to release Sabariego via a disused gate in the perimeter fence. When they tried the gate they found that the lock was rusted shut. CPT Jackson then dispatched Szili to fetch a sledgehammer they could use to open it. When Szili returned with the sledgehammer, Sabariego was dead from a gunshot wound.

CPT Jackson claimed that he got the gate opened after all and escorted Sabariego into Cuban territory. He then stated that Sabariego attacked him, and he had to shoot in self-defense. All would likely have ended well had the story wrapped up there. However, at Jackson’s behest, the two men then attempted to dispose of the Cuban’s body by throwing it over a cliff.

Like some kind of bad movie, the poor guy’s corpse got caught up on some exposed rocks. The two men returned the following day with some rope, but the rope broke, smashing the dead man against the rocks yet again. All the while Ruben Sabariego was growing ever riper in the blistering Cuban sun.

CPT Jackson eventually had several of his men assist him and did indeed retrieve the body. They then buried it in a shallow grave some 800 feet from the boundary fence. Sabariego’s wife Georgina Gonzales was by now actively searching for her husband. Some of the Marines who assisted with the clandestine recovery operation talked. Authorities eventually found the grave and exhumed the body some two weeks later. By the time what remained of Ruben Sabariego was returned to the Cubans, he was not exactly fresh.

The Guns

The Browning Automatic Rifle first saw service in the latter stages of the First World War. 2LT Val Browning, son of the gun’s designer John Moses Browning, was purportedly the first US soldier to fire the gun in anger. The BAR fed from a 20-round box magazine and provided a portable base of automatic fire that could keep up with the individual riflemen. The BAR was not officially phased out of US service until the mid-1970s.

The M1911A1 pistol was another of John Browning’s inimitable creations. Originally contrived as a replacement for the anemic .38-caliber revolvers used by US forces in the late 19^th century, the M1911 and the .45ACP round it fired established a standard of effectiveness for a combat handgun that has yet to be bettered. The M1911 is big, heavy, and mean. Particularly when throwing ball ammo, it yet remains the most powerful general-issue combat sidearm fielded by any major power.

The Rest of the Story

Fidel Castro claimed that his pathologists had discovered forensic evidence that Ruben Sabariego had been brutally tortured to death. Given Castro’s penchant for torture himself, I suppose he should know. How much of the evidence was actual abuse and how much of it stemmed from being shot, thrown off a cliff, accidentally dropped down the cliff again, and then buried a couple of times is anybody’s guess. Sabariego’s tale became a cause celebre in Cuba, and his wife Georgina was venerated as a martyr.

Both CPT Jackson and 1LT Szili were quietly transferred. Szili had difficulty finding civilian employment after leaving the Corps. Both men requested a trial by court-martial to clear their names, but their requests were denied. Uncle Sam had little interest in trying a certified war hero for shooting a Cuban bus driver and subsequently mutilating his corpse.

For his part, CPT Jackson took a job with the US Postal Service. After his retirement, he moved to Boise, Idaho. He died there in 2017 at the ripe age of 92, a certifiable warrior venerated for one sort of killing yet castigated for another.

*** Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! ***