Jack Lucas Was the Youngest WWII Medal of Honor Recipient at Iwo Jima

Dec 20 , 2025

Jack Lucas Was the Youngest WWII Medal of Honor Recipient at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. was just 17 when hell swallowed him whole on Iwo Jima. No drills, no warm-up—only the blast, the blood, the desperate screams of a squad cut down around him. In the choking smoke and roaring fire, Lucas threw himself on two grenades, covering them with his own body, saving lives while his own flesh burned and shredded. The youngest Marine ever awarded the Medal of Honor was forged in fire that day.

From Small Town to Steel Resolve

Born in 1928 in Plymouth, North Carolina, Jack Lucas was a tough kid with a restless spirit. His father died early, and Jack faced the world hard-edged and without pity for weakness. He lied about his age to enlist at 14, sitting in boot camp bunkers with men nearly twice his age. The Corps tested him. He never flinched.

Faith ran quiet but deep in Lucas. Raised with a simple, unyielding belief in the righteous cause of sacrifice, he found solace in Psalm 91:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

That verse clung to him—not just words, but armor when the storm came.

Hell on Iwo Jima: The Defining Moment

February 20, 1945. Iwo Jima's black sand burned under iron skies. Lucas was with the 5th Marine Division, rushing the Japanese defenses—machine guns, sniper fire, death lurking in every crater.

Amid the chaos, two grenades landed in his squad’s foxhole. No time to think. Lucas dove onto them. The first grenade tore into his chest and stomach; the second buried itself beneath his arm. He absorbed the shrapnel. Twice.

His body became a shield. Wounded beyond reckoning, he urged the others to get out.

He lost a chunk of his stomach, face, and hands—yet his spirit remained unbroken.

Medal of Honor: Valor Beyond Years

The Medal of Honor citation reads like scripture, but the men who fought with him remember something sharper.

“I didn’t do it for medals,” Lucas later said. “I did it because there was no other way.”[1]

His young courage shook commanders and comrades. Major General Graves B. Erskine called Jack’s act “unsurpassed” in Marine memory.[2]

Lucas earned not only the Medal of Honor — presented by President Truman — but also a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

He was the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in WWII, a fact that still echoes across generations.

Legacy Seared Into Memory

Jack Lucas carried his scars and his stories without bitterness. The raw price of bravery left its mark—the years, the surgeries, the battles inside. But his example burns steady: courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to stand when all screams to run.

His story reminds us—sacrifice is never wasted.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” —John 15:13

Veterans know it. Civilians need to understand it.

Jack Lucas’ life calls us to bear witness—not to glorify war, but to honor the relentless grit that holds it at bay. To carry the weight of sacrifice with solemn dignity and purpose.

Through his blood and grit, Jack teaches the sacred trust every soldier shoulders: to save others even when hope grows faint, and to live with every scar a witness to redemption.

Sources

1. U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. 2. United States Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients – WWII