Jacklyn Lucas, 17, the Iwo Jima Marine Who Saved Comrades

Feb 19 , 2026

Jacklyn Lucas, 17, the Iwo Jima Marine Who Saved Comrades

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was just 17. Barely a man. Yet, in the blood rains of Iwo Jima, he carried the weight of a nation on those young shoulders. Two grenades landed near his squad. Without hesitation, he dove on them—twice. Flesh flayed. Bones broken. But four comrades lived.

That’s courage born not in battle, but in the soul.

The Boy From A Small Town

Born April 14, 1928, in Omaha, Nebraska, Jacklyn “Jack” Lucas was a kid with a restless spirit. Raised in North Carolina, a son of the Great Depression, he was no stranger to hardship. The son of a sharecropper and a waitress, life was a fight from the start.

Faith ran deep in his veins—a steady compass. Proverbs 3:5-6 whispered to him: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart... In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” That faith grounded him.

At 14, he lied about his age to join the Marines. They sent him home. Fourteen, but already a soldier’s heart. Before Pearl Harbor, before the war had truly gripped America, Jack wanted in. His sense of honor aligned with the hardest of codes: duty, sacrifice, and the sacred bond between brothers in arms.

Iwo Jima: Hell in the Pacific

February 1945, Iwo Jima—a volcanic rock turned inferno under relentless assault. Jack, now 17 years old and one of the youngest Marines on the island, fought with a ferocity born of youthful defiance and hardened resolve.

On February 20, a day seared into history, Jack’s platoon was pinned down by heavy Japanese fire. Grenades rained down. One rolled against a group of Marines. Without a second thought, Jack hurled himself atop it, absorbing the blast.

Moments later, a second grenade landed nearby. He did it again—his body a barrier, his will iron.

He sustained grave injuries: fractures to both arms, shrapnel wounds to his face and body, and a concussion that left him unconscious for days. Yet, he never lost consciousness of the men he saved.

Medal of Honor: The Nation’s Youngest Hero

President Harry S. Truman awarded Jacklyn H. Lucas the Medal of Honor on October 5, 1945. At 17, he remains the youngest Marine ever to receive the nation’s highest military honor.

His citation reads in part:

“By his great personal valor and unfaltering devotion to his comrades, he saved the lives of several Marines who would otherwise have perished.”

Marine Corps history recalls his story as a beacon of selflessness. Commanders and fellow Marines marveled at his grit. Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Downs said, “The kid acted on pure guts—didn’t think about the pain, just the men.”

Jack himself said later, “I didn't stop to think. I just did what I felt was right."

He earned two Purple Hearts alongside the Medal of Honor for wounds sustained.

What Courage Teaches Us

Jacklyn Lucas bled for a generation. He bore scars that ran far deeper than flesh—scars in memory and spirit. Yet his wounds became testimony, not tragedy.

In war’s brutal calculus, courage is sometimes a simple refusal to shrink from the awful choice. He stepped into death twice. Not for glory, but because his brothers depended on him.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13

But Jack’s story doesn't end in war. He survived, carried those wounds forward, and lived to share the raw cost of valor. His example teaches veterans and civilians alike: true courage is sacrificial. It demands more than muscle — it demands heart.

Jack’s legacy whispers through decades of battlefield dust: the strength to protect others above yourself. The faith to endure unimaginable pain. The hope that even in brokenness, life finds redemption.

In honoring Jacklyn Harold Lucas, remember this — heroism is never a myth. It is flesh, blood, and bone. It is a living, breathing devotion to the men beside you and the cause that calls you to stand in the fire, no matter your age.

Sources

1. Marine Corps History Division, “Jacklyn Harold Lucas: Medal of Honor Recipient” 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, "Medal of Honor Citations, World War II" 3. The Last Heroes: The Medal of Honor and the First Marine Division by Rickey L. Edmonds 4. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Speech and Citation archives