Joseph Jacobs attended Stanford University upon graduation from GHHS. While there, he played clarinet in the Stanford marching band and was active in Ram's Head, the theater production company for which he produced the fall 1963 show, Big Game Gaities. During the summer of 1964 he was an apprentice at the Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, accepting a permanent position there upon graduation in 1965. This being the Vietnam era, Joe enlisted, rather than be drafted, in the fall of 1965, completing basic training and initial assignmentrs. He received orders to Vietnam in August 1966 and shipped out in September. While an information officer for the Army, he photographed and reported numerous combat missions. and also squired around various entertainers and dignitaries.
On February 13, 1967 he wrote: "And now fun and games in Tay Ninh province OR You Too Can Die Young". My job is to be a combat correspondent, to be where the action is, to photograph and write about what has happened. I cannot do this--especially the photography--by sitting safely in a base camp or even in a track halfway back in the column. You always said that if i were going to do a job, I should do it right or not at all." "If my rendezvous at some disputed barricade comes while I am I Vietnam, then it will come. But if it does, I want you to be able to say that I died doing my job and doing it as well as I could." Two days later he volunteered to ride shotgun in an ambulance toward the field hospital in Tay Ninh, where he would get a new pair of glasses. The ambulance was part of a convoy and when it struck a land mine he was injured and died shortly thereafter. At the time he was survived by his parents, who have since deceased, and brother Carl.
His death prompted a front page article in the Los Angeles Times, followed by a long piece with many excerpts of letters in the paper's Sunday West section. His letters have left a legacy portions of which were published as part of an article about him in Time Magazine, March 31, 1967.
I had the honor to co-edit the 1961 yearbook for The Pristians with Joe. Joe was a special person.
He had a way of making everyone feel as if they were "number one" when he interacted with them. As we worked together on the yearbook he never suggested any of my ideas were less than great...instead he showed me other ways to make it happen and somehow made me feel like it was my idea to begin with. He smiled all the time.
The most serious issues we had on that project he faced willingly and saying "ok, let's get it done". We worked hard and he never wavered from the getting it done.. As a result the finished product was pretty good.
I lost track of him after graduation. Sadly, I found him again as a Vietnam tragedy. Everytime the wall of memory visits the city I live in I visit the wall and trace his name.
Joe's was a life cut way too short (as were many others) but a life he lived fully and honorably.
Sandra Simmons (Marvin)
Marie Velardo (Hyams)
Michael Lambert
I knew Joe and Carl very well. They were both enthusiastic people with good hearts. I hope to see Carl again at some future reunion if there is one.
I live in Westchester CA and married Marla Bradley who graduated long after I did.
Mikeclambert@gmail.com