Jacklyn Harold Lucas, Youngest Marine to Earn Medal of Honor at Tarawa

Oct 05 , 2025

Jacklyn Harold Lucas, Youngest Marine to Earn Medal of Honor at Tarawa

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was fifteen years old when he faced the darkest moment any Marine can know. He wasn’t just a kid chasing a war story. He was a boy who threw himself on grenade blasts to save others. Two grenades. Both beneath his body.

The Battle That Defined Him

It was November 20, 1942. The landing on Tarawa Atoll had begun. The sands swarmed with fire and death. The bloody beaches of Betio Island were Hell writ in ash and smoke.

Lucas stormed ashore with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines — a unit hammered by fierce Japanese resistance. The chaos crashed over him: bullets, explosions, screams. The kind of noise that rips flesh and spirit alike.

His squad came under grenade attack. Without hesitation, Lucas dove atop a grenade to smother the blast. Then another. Both grenades detonated beneath him, tearing into chest and legs.

When medics reached him, a story emerged not just of pain but of iron will. Lucas survived the blasts—wounded but alive.

Background & Faith: A Fire Forged in Youth

Born April 14, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, Lucas was the son of an Army doctor. Raised in a strict household that prized courage, discipline, and faith. He enlisted twice before his 17th birthday, lying about his age to join the Corps.

His belief in sacrifice wasn’t just muscle and grit—it was spiritual. His family’s faith, and the Bible he kept close, shaped his resolve.

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

This wasn’t reckless heroism. It was a young soul answering a brutal call with clear eyes and a full heart.

The Action: Courage Beyond the Call

Lucas wasn’t veteran enough to know fear as deeply as others, but he acted with the instincts of a seasoned warrior.

The grenade blast was brutal. Melded with shrapnel and broken bones, he suffered a shattered chest, deep wounds to his legs. Most would’ve died on that sand.

He refused evacuation until those around him were accounted for, proof of the gritty determination pressed into every fiber of his being.

The Marines who saw it later spoke of “the boy who defied death twice over.”

Recognition: Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient

For his valor, Jacklyn Harold Lucas became the youngest Marine—and youngest serviceman in WWII—to receive the Medal of Honor at just 17. His citation describes his act:

“He unhesitatingly threw himself on two enemy grenades to protect his comrades from the blast... by his extraordinary courage, he saved the lives of several Marines.”

In total, Lucas earned two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star with Valor. His peers respected the raw truth of his sacrifice. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz later met Lucas and called his actions “a testament to the spirit of the United States Marine Corps.” [1]

Legacy & Lessons Etched in Blood

Jacklyn Harold Lucas’s story burns through the haze of sanitized history. It’s not a tale of glory—it is a scarred remembrance of sacrifice, youth stolen under fire, and faith tested in the furnace.

He reminds veterans and civilians alike that courage demands the ultimate price paid in full measure. His life exhorts us to carry scars as badges of honor, to fight for those beside us with reckless love.

Years later, Lucas preached the value of redemption through service — that even the youngest soldier could stand as a giant when called to sacrifice.

In the face of chaos, Lucas chose the path few dare—to shield the lives of brothers with his own. His story speaks to an eternal covenant among warriors: to stand unflinching, to bear the weight of sacrifice for a cause greater than self.

He lived to tell it, a living prayer etched in flesh and faith. His life’s battlefield journal echoes still:

“I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I just didn’t want my buddies to die.”

And that, in the end, is what legacy means.

Sources

[1] USMC History Division — “Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II, Jacklyn Harold Lucas” [2] American Battle Monuments Commission — “Tarawa Atoll: The Price of Victory” [3] Blair, Clay. The Battle for Tarawa, Naval Institute Press, 1985