Jacklyn Harold Lucas, Young Medal of Honor Marine at Iwo Jima

Feb 11 , 2026

Jacklyn Harold Lucas, Young Medal of Honor Marine at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was fifteen years old when he threw his body onto two live grenades in the maelstrom of Iwo Jima. Two. Grenades. Exploding beneath him.

No hesitation. No calculation—just pure, raw guts.

The Boy Who Chose War

Born in 1928 in Plymouth, North Carolina, Jack Lucas was no ordinary teenager. A restless spirit fueled by a fierce desire to serve, he lied about his age to enlist in the Marine Corps at just 14. Not because he sought glory, but because something deeper burned inside—a call to protect, to serve something greater than himself.

Faith was his backbone. Psalm 23 was his quiet anchor in the chaos:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

Lucas wasn’t just chasing medals. He carried a warrior’s code born of faith and grit.

The Firestorm on Iwo Jima

February 20, 1945. Iwo Jima was hell incarnate—volcanic sands, bitter cold, relentless machine-gun fire from entrenched Japanese forces.

Lucas, assigned to the 5th Marine Division, found himself amid the fiercest fighting. The heavy rifleman dug in with hardened veterans, the air thick with smoke and screams.

Then it happened.

As enemy grenades rolled toward him and two fellow Marines, Lucas did the unthinkable. He leapt onto them, taking the full blast against his chest and legs. His body a shield for others.

Survivors said the blast knocked him unconscious. Doctors found he had shattered his sternum and suffered over 200 pieces of shrapnel lodged in his skin—some that would remain in his body for life.

He came back from the edge, bloodied but unbroken.

The Medal of Honor

At 17, Lucas became the youngest Marine, and one of the youngest servicemen, to receive the Medal of Honor in WWII. Official citation highlights his “indomitable courage, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice."

“His actions reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.”

General Alexander Vandegrift, Commander of the Fleet Marine Force, remarked on Lucas's valor, calling it “an example for all Marines to follow.”

Yet Lucas was never boastful. The attention weighed heavily on him. The scars were deeper than the flesh.

He returned to duty but carried the invisible wounds of war—the heavy price of valor.

Legacy Etched in Sacrifice

Jack Lucas's story isn’t just about medals or heroics. It’s about the unfiltered truth of sacrifice: the boy who gave everything to save brothers-in-arms.

His grit reminds us that courage is choice—the decision to stand firm when chaos surrounds you, to protect the weak at all costs.

He showed that redemption lives in sacrifice.

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

Today, veterans and civilians alike can see in Lucas’s bloodied example the brutal price of war—and the unyielding spirit required to meet it.

Jacklyn Harold Lucas didn’t just survive Iwo Jima; he defined what it means to be a Marine. To face death with open eyes and shield others from its wrath—that is the highest honor.

His story is a raw chapter in the book of sacrifice written by those who carry the scars—and the souls—of battle.