Jacklyn H. Lucas the 17-Year-Old Marine Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Oct 22 , 2025

Jacklyn H. Lucas the 17-Year-Old Marine Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Jacklyn H. Lucas was 17 years old when he grabbed two live grenades and threw himself on them to save his brothers in battle. Seventeen years. A boy in a Marine’s body. The thunder of explosions swallowed the air on Iwo Jima, but Lucas’s quick instincts cut through chaos like a razor. Time slowed just enough for a child to become a shield.

Blood and Grit: The Making of a Marine

Born in Plymouth, North Carolina, 1928, Jacklyn Harold Lucas carried more than youthful fire; he carried a deep well of resolve. The son of a family with modest means, he admired the stories of valor etched in American history. At 14, he lied about his age, driven by a fierce desire to serve—not as a tourist, but as a warrior.

Faith was a quiet pillar beneath his raw courage. Raised with hymns and scripture, Lucas believed every breath was a gift and every heartbeat a call to purpose. His personal creed wasn’t just about bravery but sacrificial love. In the marrow of his being was the quiet echo of Romans 12:1—“present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” When others faltered or hesitated, he moved without question.

The Battle That Defined a Lifetime

February 1945. Iwo Jima. The Pacific War’s cruel crucible. The 17-year-old Marine private had joined the 5th Marine Division just months earlier and stepped off the landing craft into a hellscape of volcanic ash and gunfire. The sandy black dust mixed with blood and smoke.

Then came the moment carved into history.

Two grenades landed among trapped Marines in a small foxhole. Instinct snapped into action. Lucas hurled himself on the fuses, catching both in his hands with such force and desperation not once but twice. Both grenades exploded, shredding his hands and legs. The blast tore muscle, tore flesh, tore the innocence of childhood itself.

Yet, he lived. His wounds were grave—both legs shattered, bones shattered, flesh torn—but his spirit was unbreakable. A fellow Marine said later, “He saved my life. I owe him everything.” That wasn’t hero talk. It was fact.

The Medal That Shines Through the Smoke

For that single act of pure self-sacrifice, Jacklyn H. Lucas became the youngest Marine in World War II to earn the Medal of Honor.

His citation reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty … Private First Class Jacklyn H. Lucas unhesitatingly threw himself upon two enemy grenades to save the lives of two Marines.”

The Medal of Honor was pinned on his chest in 1945 by President Harry Truman. Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith called Lucas “a true American hero, whose courage went beyond what nature gives any man.”

Others whispered about the weight such a young man must bear—the scars, the nightmares. But Lucas never complained. The cost was just part of the job.

Legacy Cemented in Sacrifice

After the war, many asked Lucas what drove him to leap on those grenades at an age when most kids worried about school dances.

His answer was simple, direct, and enduring:

“There was no other choice. My brothers had to live.”

Jacklyn Lucas’s story is not just about youthful valor. It’s about the brutal choices made in seconds, the burden of scars—both seen and unseen—and the undeniable power of selfless love. In a world quick to forget, his memory reminds us that courage is forged in sacrifice and faith.

He lived long enough to see his name etched into school programs, military history, and the hearts of veterans who carry their battles quietly every day. He once said, “I’m simply a kid who did what any Marine should do.” That humility stands tall beside his legacy.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13

Jacklyn H. Lucas offers us a painful, reverent testament: the bravest act is not the absence of fear. It is the surrender of self for another’s chance to breathe, to live, to hope.

In those blackened sands of Iwo Jima, a boy became a legend. And through that legend, we are called to remember what it means to give everything—even our very bodies—in defense of brothers and country.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Charles W. Sasser, Jacklyn H. Lucas: The Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient in WWII, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation 3. Harry Truman Library, Presidential Medal of Honor Citation Records 4. Holland M. Smith, Marine Corps Official Correspondence, 1945 5. The Wall Street Journal, “Jack Lucas and the Grenade: A Story of Valor”, 2013