US Army Private Henry "Buddy" Lewis Jackson was born in Jay, Santa Rosa County, Florida on July 23, 1925, the son of William "Willie" Robert Jackson (1903-1936) and Minnie Lenora Pugh (1905-1995). His parents were married on September 25, 1921 and his father supported his family as a farmer while living in Jay in 1930. However, on November 27, 1936, his father and his brother Jesse Lewis Jackson (1907-1936) boarded the fishing boat "Vermont" for a fishing trip into the Gulf of Mexico. Given the cold November winds both had on heavy coats. As the rough sea rose, the boat began taking on water until it capsized. The other eleven on board jumped overboard and swam to shore but the coats of Willie and Jesse were too heavy and both men disappeared below the surface. Their bodies were recovered twenty miles east of Yellow Point, Florida.
Now a widow, Minnie stayed on in Jay and earned a meager living as a seamstress working for the government's WPA program that put people to work during the Great Depression. After high school Henry was working in 1942 for the Algiers-Sullivan Lumber Company in Century, Florida while living with his mother at Route 1, Box 19, Jay.
The following year, Henry enlisted in the US Army on October 29, 1943, and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for processing and orientation. For whatever reason, Henry volunteered for the new parachute battalions that were being formed. After three months of intensive training, he was sent overseas and upon arrival he was assigned to Company "G" of the 3rd Battalion of the 502nd Parachute Regiment attached to the 101st Airborne Division. His regiment had already arrived in England on September 4, 1943 and settled into their quarters in the small villages of Chilton Foliat and Denford. There, they set about vigorously training for the upcoming invasion of Normandy.
Then came D-Day and the largest landing in world history. On June 6, they took off and were dropped behind German lines in the massive Allied invasion of Normandy. They hit the ground at 00:15 only to find that some of their men had been dropped over the English Channel and drowned. For those that landed safely, were involved in fierce fighting behind enemy lines for weeks to come. They were finally relieved on June 29 and rotated back to England.
Their next mission was the bloodbath of Operation Market Garden set for September 17, 1944. This was originally a British plan meant to capture the roads and bridges of Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. This would sever the Netherlands in two and create a corridor for an armored column all the way to the German border. Each of the regiment's three battalions were given separate objectives. As far the 3rd Battalion was concerned they were to capture the bridge into Best, France and hold it! On September 17 at 13:15, the regiment jumped from their transport planes and upon landing assembled on the ground. Hilton's Battalion gathered up and headed for their objective while sending out patrols through the dense Zonsche Forest. As they moved toward the town of Best, German resistance stiffened the closer that got to the town's bridge. After they had fought their way to within 100 yards of the bridge there was a huge explosion as the Germans blew it up. But the fight continued especially in the forest to the east of Best, which swung in the battalion's favor as the British showed up with their armor. It was during this intense fighting that Private Henry Lewis Jackson was killed in action.
His mother and siblings were notified of his demise and his remains were carried to the graves registration company. He was buried in a military cemetery where he lay until 1949 when he was disinterred and sent back home to Jay. There he was buried with military honors in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery.
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