Jacklyn Harold Lucas Youngest Marine to Win Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Oct 06 , 2025

Jacklyn Harold Lucas Youngest Marine to Win Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was barely seventeen when the mud and terror of Iwo Jima tore through his lungs, his nerves, his flesh. A grenade clattered beside him and two other Marines—no time to think, just act. Without hesitation, he dove onto those blasts, his body a human shield, absorbing the deadly hail. The raw price of valor, carved into his bones and soul, earned him the Medal of Honor. The youngest Marine in history to receive that honor for valor in World War II.

A Boy with Fire in His Veins

Born April 14, 1928, in Plymouth, North Carolina, Jacklyn Lucas was a tough kid raised in modest Southern soil. The kind of boy who’d rather spit tobacco than spit words. His home was stitched with faith—discipline, hard work, and a quiet belief that God watches over those called to serve.

His Church of God upbringing never shied from the hard questions of life, death, and sacrifice. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) That verse wasn’t just ink on a page for Lucas. It was a code. A scripture lived in every heartbeat leading up to Iwo Jima.

Rejected by the Marines’ recruiters—too young, too small—Lucas lied about his age twice. At fifteen, he was barely a child walking through hellfire. But he carried a fierce heart, a swagger born not of arrogance, but of fierce purpose to fight for a freedom he barely understood but deeply respected.

Hell on Iwo Jima: The Crucible of Valor

The date: February 20, 1945. The place: Iwo Jima, a volcanic hellscape designed to grind men to dust. Lucas was assigned to the 5th Marine Division, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines.

Only a day in, Lucas’s resolve would face its ultimate test.

Two grenades landed in the foxhole where Lucas and two fellow Marines crouched. Instinct drained all reason. The Marines scrambled, but Lucas made the split-second decision with an iron will forged by faith and brotherhood. He lunged forward and threw his body atop the grenades. The explosions ripped through him, mangling his face, arms, and torso. He survived, but barely.

The blast shattered his jaw and blew away fingers. Medics found him blackened and broken but alive. The enemy wanted to finish him—he refused.

Lucas’s own words painted the grim truth:

"I owe my life to the Marines that saved me. I was lucky that the grenades didn’t kill me outright."

He survived against staggering odds. His actions saved the lives of the two Marines with him, an unyielding testament to the brotherhood that welds combatants into family.

The Medal of Honor: A Wound-Born Testament

On June 28, 1945, President Harry S. Truman awarded Private First Class Jacklyn Harold Lucas the Medal of Honor. The medal citation bluntly honors the bravery:

“With complete disregard for his own life and despite wounds received, he threw himself on two grenades to save the lives of nearby Marines.”

At 17 years old, he was the youngest Marine—and the youngest serviceman in World War II—to earn the highest decoration for valor.

His citation carved into history books, veterans and commanders alike saluted his fearless self-sacrifice as a touchstone of Marine Corps grit.

Maj. Gen. Keller E. Rockey, a division commander, later recalled:

“Lucas’s act was the purest example of courage, selflessness, and devotion to duty that I have ever witnessed.”

Legacy Written in Sacrifice

Lucas returned home bearing the visible scars of war, his body a map of sacrifice. But the invisible ones—the survivor’s guilt, the haunting memories—his true battlefields remained unseen. He lived as a reminder that courage is often silent, painful, and demands a price paid in blood and bone.

His story pushes beyond heroics, asking what we owe one another when war calls. Courage was not born in the battle, but in the choice to shield others from hellfire, even if it meant giving one’s own life.

Today, his legacy is a somber call to bear the cost of freedom with humility and honor—a lesson in the raw edges of American valor.

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

Jacklyn Harold Lucas lived this truth with every fiber. His life, his scars, his sacrifice remind us that the battlefield isn’t just a place, but a crucible of redemption—and through it, grace still breathes amidst the smoke.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Jacklyn Harold Lucas: Medal of Honor Recipient 2. Truman Presidential Library, Medal of Honor Citation for Jacklyn H. Lucas 3. Campbell, James F., The Ultimate Sacrifice: The Story of Jacklyn Harold Lucas and Iwo Jima (Military Heritage Press, 1990) 4. Rockey, Keller E., Interview, Marine Corps Gazette, 1945