Dec 30 , 2025

17-Year-Old Jacklyn Lucas Survived Two Grenades at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. was just seventeen when death found him—not once, but twice—and he walked away breathing, scarred, and forever changed. The boy who dove on not one, but two grenades to shield his brothers in arms from a blast no one should ever face. He was smaller than most Marines, but his courage filled the battlefield like a thunderstorm. He saved lives with a split-second’s selfless choice.

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The Making of a Warrior and a Young Man

Born in 1928, in Plymouth, North Carolina, Lucas grew up tough in a country still seething from the Great Depression. Raised by a single mother, he ran with a stubborn pride and a fierce desire to prove himself. When the war came, he wanted in. The Marines almost turned him away for being too young—seventeen and a half—but he lied about his age to get through the gates.

Faith was a quiet undercurrent beneath his gritty exterior. In interviews later, Lucas would reflect on the moment he dove onto those grenades as something beyond human will—it was instinct, but also a surrender to a higher purpose. "I just did what I thought was right," he said. Perhaps it was that sense of righteousness, born of a boy’s hope and a warrior’s code, that drove him.

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The Battle That Defined Him: Iwo Jima, 1945

February 1945, Iwo Jima—the name itself a byword for hell. The island was a fortress dug into volcanic rock. The Japanese defenders were ruthless, the terrain unforgiving. Marines stormed the beaches under blistering fire.

Lucas, part of the 5th Marine Division, found himself in the teeth of it less than a week in. According to official Medal of Honor citations, while his unit took a brief rest on the 20th of February, two enemy grenades were thrown into their foxhole.

Without hesitation, Lucas dropped onto the first grenade, pressing it to the ground with all his weight. As the fuse ticked down on the second grenade, with the wound from the first making every breath agony, he dropped on the second too. The blasts tore flesh from bone, but Lucas lived. He absorbed that blast like steel soaked in fire, so his brothers could stand and fight again.

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Recognition in Blood and Glory

Lucas is the youngest ever Marine awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest symbol of valor. Presented by President Harry S. Truman himself, the medal citation reads:

“By his extraordinary valor and inspiring daring on 20 February 1945, he saved the lives of two of his comrades.”

But medals and accolades only tell half the story. Fellow Marines and officers spoke of a boy who bore the scars of war on his body and in his soul—and wore those scars like badges of honor and survival.

"You’re never the same after something like that," Lucas confessed later. "But I was proud to have done it. I felt God’s hand on me that day."

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Legacy of Sacrifice and Redemption

Jacklyn Lucas's story burns bright in the annals of valor because it cuts through the noise of war’s chaos and hits the quiet core— sacrifice is always costly, but it saves the soul of a brotherhood.

His wounds required over two dozen surgeries. The pain never fully left him. Yet, after the war, Lucas dedicated himself to helping others wrestle with trauma and purpose. He became a spokesman for veterans, living testimony to survival and the grace that follows.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) It’s more than scripture—it’s a promise carved in flesh and blood by a seventeen-year-old Marine on a scorched Pacific island.

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In Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr., we see the lowest depths and highest heights of humanity. A boy who refused to die alone, who threw himself into Hell to save others. His legacy a torch, passed to every veteran who knows the cost of sacrifice, and every civilian who owes their peace to those who answer the call.

He is a reminder: courage is not the absence of fear, but the will to act despite it.

And in that choice lies redemption—for the fallen, the wounded, and the survivors alike.

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