A soldier with the East Yorkshire Regiment, he was awarded the VC for his actions in March 1918, during the German spring offensive of the First World War.

[2] On 22 March, Jackson, now a sergeant, volunteered for an intelligence gathering patrol, which had to be conducted while the Germans laid down an artillery barrage.

Later the same day, he was heavily involved in fighting off a German attack that initially penetrated his battalion's position and then put a machine-gun post out of action.

Shortly afterwards, again single-handed, he stalked an enemy machine-gun, threw Mills bombs at the detachment, and put the gun out of action.

He then went out repeatedly under heavy fire and carried in wounded.Jackson received his VC ribbon from Lieutenant General Cameron Shute, commander of V Corps, on 18 May.

[1] He returned to England to be presented with the VC medal itself from King George V; this ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on 26 June.

[6] After a period of leave, he returned to his battalion, which "in the last ten days of March had lost twenty-one officers and 431 men", and was still serving on the Western Front.

His sister, Mary Searby, had possession of his VC and later lent it to her father, Thomas Jackson, for a function at Buckingham Palace.