Jacklyn Lucas, 17, Is the Youngest Marine to Earn the Medal of Honor

Oct 02 , 2025

Jacklyn Lucas, 17, Is the Youngest Marine to Earn the Medal of Honor

He was barely a man. Barely seventeen. Yet in a single heartbeat, Jacklyn Harold Lucas sealed his name in the crucible of war. Two grenades, thrown into his foxhole during the ferocious Battle of Iwo Jima, tore through the air—each one a shattering summons to sacrifice. Without hesitation, he dove atop them, chest pressed to cold earth, flesh and bone shielding his comrades. The explosions tore through his body, nearly ending him. But Lucas lived. And through that sacrifice, he became the youngest Marine ever awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II.

The Boy from North Carolina

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was no soldier by birthright. Born August 14, 1928, in Aberdeen, North Carolina, he grew up a scrappy kid in a modest town, angry at the world but driven by a fierce sense of duty. His father died young, leaving scars beneath the surface — scars that birthed a restless hunger for belonging.

At just 14, Lucas lied about his age and enlisted in the Marine Corps. The Corps told him to come back when he was 17. He told them, “I’ll be back.” And he was. His faith was simple but unshakable, wrapped around his mother’s quiet prayers and a stubborn belief that he was meant for something greater.

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

Lucas carried those words like gospel in the trenches.

Iwo Jima: The Inferno of Youth

February 1945, Iwo Jima. A volcanic island soaked in fire, blood, and desperation. Lucas, now freshly 17, fought alongside hardened Marines. His youth and small frame hid an iron will hardened by every training scar and whispered prayer.

The moment came like thunder. Two live grenades sailed into the foxhole where Lucas and two fellow Marines huddled. Without pause, Lucas flung himself down, towering over the explosives with his body. The force tore through his chest and legs, shattering bones and igniting pain that no boy should ever endure.

Two grenades. One shield. Three lives saved.

He awoke in a field hospital with burns covering 90% of his body. The medics wrote him off. But Lucas refused to die that day.

Valor Cemented in Bronze and Words

For that act alone, Jacklyn Lucas received the Medal of Honor, presented by President Harry Truman on October 5, 1945. He remains the youngest Marine—and youngest Medal of Honor recipient—to date.

His citation reads:

“With unhesitating courage above and beyond the call of duty, Private First Class Lucas unhesitatingly flung himself on two grenades, absorbing the explosions in his own body, thereby saving the lives of nearby men.”

His commanding officer, Lt. Col. William H. Harrison, said:

“Jacklyn didn’t even hesitate. He didn’t think—he acted. That kind of courage is born in the heart, not the head.”

Lucas survived against all odds, enduring over 200 surgeries in a lifetime marked by pain and perseverance.

A Legacy Written in Sacrifice

Jacklyn Lucas’s story is not just about youth or valor. It’s about the inescapable cost of courage: the scars—seen and unseen—that men carry long after the cannons fall silent.

He refused to let the war break him. Instead, he let it forge a message: the highest love is sacrifice.

His life reminds us that war is not a game for boys, but sometimes a boy must become a man faster than the world can understand. And though the cost is high, the lives saved grant a legacy that outlives wounds and time.

Years later, he said simply:

“Heroes don’t get the last word. God does.”

Jacklyn Harold Lucas carried the flames of sacrifice—young, broken, yet unbowed. His story burns like a beacon for those who follow the long road home from war. A testament to the fact that real courage is never measured by age, but by the willingness to stand in the fire for others.

In our darkest hours—on battlefields or life’s endless frontlines—that willingness remains our truest, fiercest weapon.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division + Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Truman Library + Award ceremony transcript, October 5, 1945 3. Richard G. Hewlett, The U.S. Marines in World War II: The Pacific War 4. Congressional Medal of Honor Society + Jacklyn Harold Lucas Citation 5. Bill Petoskey, “Remembering Jacklyn Lucas,” Military Times (2012)