Photo: Getty Images Europe
Billie Joe Armstrong took Instagram followers on a walk down memory lane on Wednesday night (March 14), sharing six separate posts about his mom, dad, aunts, and uncles where he posted old photos and told stories about each of them. They were all happy memories until the Green Day frontman got to the last post—one he admitted he "was reluctant" to share because it's "heart breaking."
"I was reluctant about sharing this post because it’s heart breaking," Armstrong began the lengthy caption aside photos of his late uncle. "This is my uncle Little Jay Jackson. My mom’s youngest brother and the youngest of her 12 siblings. He was in the army. A green beret I believe.. He died in action in the vietnam war sometime around the Tet offensive. He served with honor and that’s something I can respect."
"I never met him but by all accounts he was a great brother and loving father. And a great young athlete," he added. "He was pretty close in age to my brother Alan who had the one relationship with him out of all my brothers and sisters. I just watched the Ken Burns documentary on Vietnam which is an amazing documentary. I highly recommend it. It made me curious to look him up. His name [is up] on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall of names. Someday I want to check it out. War is terrifying. I have memories of my aunts and uncles talking about him pretty openly .. I love this photo of him feeding a baby deer. His name really is Little Jay Jackson by the way"
See Armstrong's emotional post below.