Army Staff Sergeant Isadore Jachman - World War II

Isadore “Izzy” Siegfreid Jachman was born in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 14, 1922. His family moved to the United States when he was two years old. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland and attended high school at the Baltimore City College, graduating in 1939.

Jachman, who was Jewish, had relatives who were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust, including six aunts and uncles. Despite being born in Germany, there was no question of his loyalty to his adopted nation when Jachman enlisted in the U.S. Army.  

Initially he was assigned stateside, and volunteered to serve with the paratroopers so he could fight the Nazis. He finished paratroop training and was deployed to Europe.

He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, in action at Flamierge, Belgium, on Jan. 4, 1945, when his company was pinned down by enemy artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, two hostile tanks attacked the unit, inflicting heavy casualties. Jachman, seeing the desperate plight of his comrades, left his place of cover and with total disregard for his own safety dashed across open ground through a hail of fire and seizing a bazooka from a fallen comrade advanced on the tanks, which concentrated their fire on him. Firing the weapon alone, he damaged one and forced both to retire. Jachman's heroic action, in which he suffered fatal wounds, disrupted the entire enemy attack, reflecting the highest credit upon himself and the parachute infantry.

Some years after the war, the Belgian village of Flamierge erected a statue where an unknown brave American soldier had stood fighting to save the village. Army records later established that this indeed was Staff Sgt. Jachman, and his name was added to the statue. Today, the Staff Sgt. Isadore Jachman Armory in Owings Mills, Maryland houses the 326th Army Maintenance Battalion.

This text is from the official citations, military historical records, obituaries and other text posted on the Internet, including HomeOfHeroes.com, and the Military Times Hall of Valor.