Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine Awarded the Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Jan 17 , 2026

Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine Awarded the Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. was 14 years old when he waded into hell.

Too young to enlist, he lied about his age and slipped through the cracks, driven by fire hotter than most men's hatred for the enemy. In an ocean of blood and carnage, he became a shield no grenade could pierce.

Born of Bone and Blood

Lucas grew up in North Carolina, a place where grit ran thick in the veins of every man who picked a fight with destiny. Raised in a devout home, his faith was forged early.

“I always knew right from wrong,” he said later. Faith wasn’t just words. It was the armor he carried.

At just 14, the drumbeat of war left no room for hesitation. He joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1942 and shipped off to fight under fire by age 17. But desperation clawed at him. Too young still, he snuck onto the boat headed for Iwo Jima.

“I just wanted to be out there where the fight was,” Lucas said. “I wasn't going to let age stop me.”

His heart beat in rhythm with a divine purpose — to protect the brothers beside him.

The Firestorm on Iwo Jima

February 20, 1945. The volcanic ash-strewn soil of Iwo Jima boiled beneath a blood-smeared sky. The 5th Marine Division pushed inland against unforgiving Japanese defenses.

Lucas’s rifle squad found itself pinned down by enemy machine gun fire. Explosions shrieked around them, smoke swallowing the landscape.

Then, grenades.

Two enemy explosives hurtled into their foxhole. Without hesitation, Lucas threw himself over the grenades, covering them with his body.

Two grenades. Two deadly blasts absorbed by a boy’s frame.

Shrapnel tore through him, mangling his arms and legs. One grenade knocked him unconscious.

Pain carved new scars.

Twice before the Marine Corps had members cover grenades with their bodies; Lucas was the youngest recorded to do so. His action saved at least three men — his comrades — from certain death that day.

"Jacklyn Lucas saved my life," said Sgt. Charles Watters, one of those in the foxhole. "He was like a brother to all of us."

The Medal of Honor: A Boy’s Valor Etched in Steel

Lucas’s wounds were so severe, doctors feared he wouldn’t survive. But he did. Twice “dead” on the operating table, each time pulled back by sheer will and prayer.

At age 17, he became the youngest Marine ever awarded the Medal of Honor. President Harry S. Truman pinned the medal onto his chest on October 5, 1945.

The citation read:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”

His courage wouldn’t just be a footnote in history books—it became a rallying cry for a nation battered by war.

Former Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton later said, “Lucas personified the spirit and sacrifice of the Marine Corps and every man who has stood between freedom and tyranny.”

Legacy Beyond the Battlefield

Jacklyn Lucas survived wounds no boy should bear. But his survival was not just physical — it was spiritual.

He spent his life speaking to young people and veterans, telling them: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”

The scars he carried were reminders. Not of pain alone, but of redemption.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life...nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38-39

His story isn’t just about surviving against the odds. It’s about the grit, the grit that binds every veteran — the willingness to stand tall between chaos and brothers-in-arms.

Jacklyn Lucas was a boy forged into a legend by fire and faith, a testament to sacrifice that echoes beyond the smoke, calling each of us to something greater.

Heroism is not born. It’s chosen. And sometimes, it’s grabbed at the edge of a grenade.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, “Jacklyn Harold Lucas, Medal of Honor Recipient” 2. United States Marine Corps, “Medal of Honor Citation: Jacklyn Lucas” 3. The Washington Post, “Jacklyn Harold Lucas Dies at 80; Youngest Marine Medal of Honor Recipient,” August 2012 4. History.com Editors, “Jacklyn Harold Lucas,” History Channel Biography