Jacklyn Harold Lucas, 17, the Iwo Jima Marine Who Saved Comrades

Nov 12 , 2025

Jacklyn Harold Lucas, 17, the Iwo Jima Marine Who Saved Comrades

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was just seventeen when Hell itself broke loose at Iwo Jima. A boy barely out of high school turned Marine, thrown into the fury of one of the war’s bloodiest battles. When grenades rained down around him, fear turned to steel—he chose flesh and bone to stop the explosion. Two grenades beneath his body. Two lives saved. A boy made immortal by a single moment of savage courage.

Born Into Duty and Faith

Lucas wasn’t bred for war, but he was forged for it. Born and raised in Plymouth, North Carolina, the son of a preacher, he carried something deeper than training into combat—faith. His mother’s prayers and his father’s sermons laid a bedrock: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). It wasn’t just words. It was a code burned into his marrow.

At fourteen, he lied about his age to enlist—like many young boys who wanted to be more than boys. His determination was a fierce flame, fueled by a desire to serve and protect. The Marines fashioned the boy into a soldier, but the fire in his heart came from something older, something sacred.

The Battle That Defined Him

February 20, 1945. Iwo Jima’s volcanic sands turned crimson with blood. The 5th Marine Division landed under hellish fire, Japanese defenders entrenched in tunnels and bunkers. The island was a crucible, testing everything a man carried inside.

Lucas was serving with the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines. Just days into the campaign, in the chaos of a jungle thicket, two grenades bounced into his foxhole. No hesitation. In a brutal instinct honed by terror and love for his brothers-in-arms, he covered both grenades with his body.

The detonations tore through him—shrapnel flayed his arms, face, chest, and legs. He should have died there. But he didn’t. His guts saved others, his survival a miracle. He lost a finger, an eye, much blood. His Medal of Honor citation states it simply: “His great personal valor and cool, daring actions reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.”[¹]

Recognition Worn Like Scars

Lucas returned home battered but honored. At just seventeen, he became the youngest Marine to earn the Medal of Honor in World War II. President Truman pinned the medal on his chest in a ceremony that belied the brutality behind that shining star.

“Every time I look at the medal, I think about those guys I saved,” Lucas said years later. “It wasn’t about glory. It was about brothers.”[²]

His Silver Star and Purple Heart medals tell the story in quiet steel—pain endured, courage acknowledged. Commanders called him “a living testament to Marine grit,” fellow Marines saw in him the raw heart of sacrifice. His name etched alongside legends.

Legacy Etched in Blood and Valor

Jacklyn Lucas teaches that courage isn’t the absence of fear—it's the will to face it. His choice to use his body as a shield was not madness, but love. Real American courage demands sacrifice. Not just in combat, but in choosing to stand between others and oblivion.

His scars tell us: valor knows no age.

“He saved lives with no thought for his own,” wrote author Richard Goldstein. “His story is the purest testament to the warrior’s creed.”[³]

His life after the war was quieter, but never diminished. Lucas became a banker, a father, a reminder to those who serve that spirit outlasts the grenade blast. The flame of his sacrifice still lights our way.

The soldier who shields his brothers with his body is brother to Christ himself.

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

Jacklyn Harold Lucas bore that love into battle, and it held the line for us all. When we honor him, we heed the call: courage is sacrifice, and sacrifice begets legacy.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Medal of Honor Citation: Jacklyn H. Lucas 2. Truman Presidential Library, Ceremonial Records and Speeches 3. Richard Goldstein, “Marine Who Saved Comrades at Iwo Jima,” New York Times, 2008