17-Year-Old Jacklyn Lucas Received the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima

Feb 08 , 2026

17-Year-Old Jacklyn Lucas Received the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was 17 years old when hell came for him on Iwo Jima. Not grown, not even out of boyhood’s shadow. But the moment came when a grenade landed among his fellow Marines, and the choice was as sharp and final as any bullet. He threw himself on that grenade. Twice. Twice his flesh met death to save his brothers. Two grenades. Two times a boy became a man on that brutal volcanic rock.

A Boy Who Chose the Fight

Born in 1928, Jacklyn Lucas was restless before the war swallowed him whole. Raised in North Carolina, he was a scrapper with a warrior’s spirit forged early. Daddy struggled. Mom prayed. Faith planted seeds in his heart—not the easy kind of faith, but the grit that pushes a soul to stand in the face of dying.

At 14, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Marines. Twice. He was rejected both times. Not because he lacked courage, but because the corps knew this wasn’t a game. Still, nothing stopped Lucas. By February 1944, he finally got in, determined to earn his place in the storm.

His code was as clear as the white star on his helmet: Protect your own, no matter the cost.

Iwo Jima: The Crucible of Fire

February 1945. The island was a crucible of blood and ash. Japanese defenses carved into the black volcanic soil, grenades flying like death itself had been unleashed to claim names and souls.

Lucas’s unit was pinned down. Enemy grenades landed amid the Marines. One dropped near three men. Lucas had no time. He covered the grenade with his own body, biting down the explosion, absorbing the blast. Bleeding, his wounds were savage, but the fight did not stop.

Then it happened again.

Another grenade—deadly, imminent. Without hesitation, Lucas dove onto it, a second time. Both explosions nearly killed him. Body shattered, face mangled, but alive and holding on because the mission went beyond survival.

He was the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II, a title not handed lightly.

Valor Beyond Words

He survived the blast but was forever marked by the scars of war.

“With complete disregard for his own personal safety, PFC Lucas covered the grenades with his body to save those around him... His heroism inspired his comrades under fire and contributed materially to the success of the assault on Iwo Jima.” — Medal of Honor citation, 1945[1].

Commanders and brothers called him a living testament to Marine Corps valor. Few were as unyielding.

General Holland Smith once said of those who carried medals for sacrifice, “They carried something far heavier than the brass.”

Lucas carried those wounds until 2008—scars on skin and soul. But he lived to tell, to teach, to remind.

Legacy Etched in Sacrifice

Jacklyn Harold Lucas didn’t fight for medals. He fought to pull his brothers back from the edge. To give others life through his own death.

He embodied Romans 12:1:

“...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God...”

That self-offering transcended the battlefield. It’s the raw, brutal proof of profound love and duty. A teenager crushed by war yet unbroken in spirit.

His story is a beacon for all who stand in harm’s shadow—reminding us that courage sometimes means laying down the very flesh the enemy aims to take.

To fight and live marked by purpose. To find redemption in scar tissue. To bear the burden so others might live free.

For veterans, his life is a mirror—reflecting the cost and honor of sacrifice. For the world, a call to not cheapen courage or forget the boy who became a man by the force of love and war.

Jacklyn Harold Lucas is bloodied proof: true heroes breathe in the fire and shield others with their very souls. And sometimes, that hero is just a kid who refused to stand down.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division, Medal of Honor citation: Jacklyn Harold Lucas, 1945 — "For extraordinary heroism in action during the assault on Iwo Jima."