Jacklyn Harold Lucas, youngest Marine to earn the Medal of Honor

Oct 01 , 2025

Jacklyn Harold Lucas, youngest Marine to earn the Medal of Honor

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was a boy swallowed whole by war—but he gave everything so his brothers might live. At 17, with blood on his hands and courage beyond his years, he pulled grenades beneath his body, shielding lives with his own flesh. The firestorm of Iwo Jima carved his name into history; he was the youngest Marine ever to earn the Medal of Honor.

The Boy Who Would Become a Marine

Lucas wasn’t supposed to be on Iwo Jima. Born in 1928, North Carolina bred toughness into his bones. Raised by his mother after his father’s death, the boy wrestled with loss and hardship. He lied about his age to enlist—16, armed with sheer will and desperation to belong somewhere bigger than himself.

Faith ran quietly beneath his scars. Lucas carried a soldier’s code etched in grit and quiet conviction—a belief that sacrifice meant something eternal. He wasn’t just fighting the enemy; he was wrestling with what it meant to be alive.

Firestorm on Iwo Jima: February 20, 1945

The beaches of Iwo Jima were a crucible hell-bent on breaking men. Lucas landed with his unit, the 1st Marine Division, in the dark gray ash and smoke. Grenades rained like death from above—how many seconds do you have before they explode? Five? Four?

Near an enemy pillbox, two grenades clattered at his feet. Instinct screamed. No one hesitated. He dove on top, pressing the first grenade deep into the mud with his right hand. Then the second. His body absorbed the blasts, ripping flesh and bone.

His muscles screamed, lungs filled with smoke and blood. “I thought I was dead,” he later said. But he wasn’t. The mud, the instinct, the chaos—kept him alive.

Medal of Honor: Blood Baptism of Bravery

Jacklyn Lucas’ Medal of Honor citation is unflinching:

“... by his indomitable courage, unwavering determination, and superb skill, he saved the lives of two fellow Marines at the imminent risk of his own...”

Two years after the war, President Truman pinned the medal on his chest—a Marine who had survived the unspeakable. He received a Purple Heart for the burns covering 96% of his body.

Marine Corps Commandant General Alexander Vandegrift said of Lucas:

“His act of self-sacrifice embodies the highest traditions of the Corps.”[^1]

The Legacy of a Young Warrior

Remarkably, Lucas refused to let the wounds define him. He lived decades beyond the war, telling his story—not for glory, but so the message of sacrifice might echo.

His faith, reflected in the words of Romans 12:1, grounded him:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice...”

To present yourself completely. To lay everything down so others might stand.

Jacklyn Lucas teaches a brutal, holy truth: courage is forged not in the absence of fear but in decisive sacrifice. His scars are a testament, his life a call.

He was the smallest soldier on the fiercest battlefield, but with the heart of a lion—and a soul that dared to bear the weight of the world for one more heartbeat.

[^1]: United States Marine Corps, “Medal of Honor Recipients, World War II” Archives.