Field Notes

Researching Family History One Record at a Time

Ancestors / Jackson

Joel Thomas "Joe" Jackson

Also known as: Joey

b. 27 Aug 1922 · Creede, Mineral County, Colorado – d. 11 Dec 1987 · Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado

Active
Joel Thomas Jackson as a young man, seated outdoors
Joel Thomas "Joe" Jackson, undated. Scanned from an original photograph in the collection of Shannon's mother.

Vital Facts

Event Date Place Status Source
Birth 27 Aug 1922 Creede, Mineral County, Colorado Proven 1a,1b Self-reported on 1945 draft registration card; corroborated by Find a Grave. BIRLS database conflicts by five days.
Death 11 Dec 1987 Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado Proven 1b,2 Find a Grave, maintained by Shannon, previously listed the death year only as 1988; to be corrected to reflect this date.
Wounded in action 1944 (exact date undocumented) Saipan, Mariana Islands Proven 3,2 Colorado WWII wounded-in-action casualty list confirms the wound; John Jackson's tribute supplies the location and circumstances.

Family

Parents

Spouse

  • Sue Steward — m. 1946 (license issued 13 Jun 1946) , Larimer County, Colorado (Proven) 4 — Sue Steward Jackson, 1924–1971, of Westcliffe, Colorado at time of license.

Children

  • Living
  • Living
  • Kevin Scott Jackson (b. 1958; d. 1 Oct 2013, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) 5

Timeline

  1. ca. 1938–1941 Worked at the Federal Fish Hatchery in Creede alongside Hurtha Duncan, then became a hard-rock miner at the Commodore tunnels under foreman Johnny Weaver. 2
  2. 8 Dec 1941 Drove to Denver with Clinton Fairchild, Bob Manning, and Clarence Snow to enlist, one day after Pearl Harbor; enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and went to boot camp. 2,1b
  3. Jan 1942 Serving as Private, Fifth Recruit Battalion, Recruit Depot, Marine Corps Base San Diego, California — boot camp. 6
  4. Jul 1943 Serving as Private First Class, Headquarters and Service Battery, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, in the field. 7
  5. 1944 Wounded by shrapnel to the head on Saipan; later located in a field hospital by brother William Charles "Scoot" Jackson, serving on Guam, who sent word to their parents that Joe was alive. 3,2
  6. Jan 1945 Serving as Corporal, 2nd Battalion, 155mm Howitzer Battalion, 1st Provisional Field Artillery Group, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, in the field. 8
  7. 17 Dec 1945 Discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps after his first period of service. 1b
  8. 1950 Graduated from Colorado A&M College, Fort Collins. 9
  9. 13 Jun 1946 Marriage license issued to Joel Thomas Jackson of Creede and Sue Steward of Westcliffe. 4
  10. May 1950 Working as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office, residing in Riverside, Larimer County, Colorado, with wife Sue and son D. Bruce, age 2. 10
  11. 14 Sep 1950 – 13 Sep 1951 Second period of U.S. Marine Corps service, coinciding with the Korean War; circumstances undocumented. 1b

Open Research Questions

  1. Exact date Joe was wounded on Saipan is undocumented; only the wounded-in-action list and John's tribute confirm the wound occurred.
  2. Exact date Scoot located Joe in the field hospital and notified their parents is unknown; family account places this some time after the wounding, during a period when the family did not know whether Joe was alive.
  3. What Joe studied at Colorado A&M, and whether his 1950 graduation was connected to the GI Bill, is undocumented.
  4. The 1946 Fort Collins Coloradoan item is a marriage-license notice, not the marriage record itself; the marriage certificate has not been located.
  5. Circumstances, location, and unit of Joe's 1950–51 Korean War-era Marine Corps enlistment are undocumented.
  6. A newspaper photograph of Joe with fellow servicemen, previously seen by Shannon, has not been relocated.

References

  • 1a. ↩ Joel Thomas Jackson, World War II draft registration card (fourth registration), Local Board No. 75, Creede, Mineral County, Colorado, registered 26 Dec 1945; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026), "U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947"; citing The National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri, Draft Registration Cards for Colorado, 10/16/1940–03/31/1947, Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group 147, Box 118.
  • 1b. ↩ "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2020," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026), entry for Joel T Jackson, b. 22 Aug 1922, d. 11 Dec 1987; U.S. Marine Corps enlistment 13 Dec 1941–17 Dec 1945 and 14 Sep 1950–13 Sep 1951; citing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File, 1850–2022. [BIRLS index gives 22 Aug 1922 — likely clerical transposition]
  • 2. ↩ John Jackson, "Friend Doesn't Forget," Mineral County Miner (Creede, Colorado), "Home Front," Section B, 4 Feb 1988, p. [1B] (page number not printed; inferred from "Continued from Page 1B" on p. 16B), continued p. 16B. [John's tribute, published 4 Feb 1988, refers to Joe in the past tense, consistent with a death shortly before that date]
  • 3. ↩ "U.S., World War II Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualties, 1941-1945," database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1122/images/ww2c_27-1277 : accessed 17 Jul 2026), United States > Colorado > Wounded In Action, p. 17, col. 1, JACKSON, Joel T., Pfc, USMC, father Wm. T. Jackson, P.O. Box 75, Creede.
  • 4. ↩ "Marriage Licenses," Fort Collins Coloradoan (Fort Collins, Colorado), 13 Jun 1946, p. 7, col. 3, par. 7, Joel Thomas Jackson of Creede, Colo., and Miss Sue Steward of Westcliffe, Colo.; digital image, Newspapers.com (accessed 17 Jul 2026).
  • 5. ↩ "U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026), Kevin Scott Jackson, b. abt 1958, d. 1 Oct 2013, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; obituary, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 8 Oct 2013; citing Newspapers.com image 266566842.
  • 6. ↩ "U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958," database with images, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/browse?columnStates=... : accessed 17 Jul 2026), Jackson, Joel T., Private, Fifth Recruit Battalion, Recruit Depot, MCB, San Diego, California, muster date Jan 1942.
  • 7. ↩ "U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958," database with images, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/sub-image/651956472/jackson-joel-t-us-marine-corps-muster-rolls-1798-1958 : accessed 17 Jul 2026), Jackson, Joel T., Pfc, Hq and Serv Btry, 3D Bn, 10th Mar, 2D Mar Div, FMF, In The Field, muster date Jul 1943.
  • 8. ↩ "U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958," database with images, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/browse?columnStates=!((facetType:general.title.id,selectedFacet:(label:%27US,+Marine+Corps+Muster+Rolls,+1798-1958%27,nodeType:PARENT,value:%271414%27)),(facetType:general.title.browse.1,selectedFacet:(label:%271945%27,nodeType:PARENT,value:%270000001945%091945l%27))) : accessed 17 Jul 2026), Jackson, Joel T., Corporal, 2D 155mm How Bn, 1st Prov Fld Arty Group, FMF, Pac, In The Field, muster date Jan 1945.
  • 9. ↩ The 1950 Silver Spruce (Fort Collins, Colorado: Associated Students of Colorado A&M College, 1950), Charlie Delp, editor, Bob Bay, business manager, 269, Jackson, Joel T., Creede, Colo. [misprinted in OCR as "Crude, Colo."]; digital image, Ancestry.com, "U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-2016" (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026).
  • 10. ↩ 1950 U.S. census, Larimer County, Colorado, population schedule, Riverside, sheet 14, household 156, Joe T. Jackson household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026); citing NARA Record Group 29, Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950.