On May 8th, 1944 , Lt. Jackson Jr received serious flak wounds in the left leg on a "NOBALL" mission to Sottevast, France. Jackson said he felt it was like being hit with a baseball bat in the leg. The shock knocked him out for several seconds. With one engine out and Jackson losing a lot of blood, the crew decided to land on the southeast coast of England at RAF Ford, near Winchester. Jackson was rushed to a nearby hospital. The doctors never dug out all the metal from his leg. They said they would have to cut his leg to ribbons to do so. He spent 9 months convalescing in England, finally returning to the USA in February, 1945. His left thigh was a mass of scars. In later years, he applied for and received a 20% disability from the U.S. government.
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