Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine to Receive Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Feb 24 , 2026

Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine to Receive Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was 17 years old when fate threw him into hell’s fire.

Two enemy grenades landed at his feet on the beach of Iwo Jima. No hesitation. He threw himself on those bombs, arms outstretched, bare chest the only shield between steel and his fellow Marines.

He absorbed the blast. Twice.

Roots of a Warrior: Boy to Marine

Born in 1928 in Plymouth, West Virginia, Jack Lucas grew up steeped in the raw grit of Appalachian life. A mountain boy toughened by coal dust and hard labor, his faith was as settled as the hills he came from.

His mother instilled a strong belief in God and country. Lucas carried those lessons like armor — duty, honor, sacrifice.

At 14, he lied about his age to enlist in the Marines. The Corps took him — a fearless kid with a heart too big for his boots — and molded him into a warrior.

“I wanted to do something that was important,” Lucas said years later.

Firestorm on Iwo Jima

February 1945. Iwo Jima’s black volcanic ash fields churned beneath intense Japanese fire. The air was thick with smoke, sweat, and death.

Lucas arrived with the 1st Marine Division, barely old enough to shave, but moving with a grit born of stubborn faith.

On February 20, as his unit pushed inland against entrenched enemy positions, chaos exploded. Two grenades bounced within a few feet of his squad.

He didn’t think — he acted.

Jacklyn Lucas dove forward not once, but twice, pressing both grenades under his body. Each grenade detonated, ripping through his flesh, blowing off his right hand above the wrist, and devastating much of his chest and legs.

Yet he survived — saved the lives of two fellow Marines.

Valor Carved in Flesh and Steel

For this act of sacrificial courage, Lucas became the youngest Marine — and the youngest Medal of Honor recipient — in World War II history, awarded on October 5, 1945. His citation described “complete disregard for his own life,” and “extraordinary heroism.”

Generals, fellow Marines, and historians still recount his story not as legend, but as an unforgettable truth of war’s cost and valor.

Marine Corps Commandant General Alexander Vandegrift said:

“His actions are worthy of the highest honor and eternal remembrance.”

Lucas’s scars ran deeper than the ones carved into his body — they bore witness to the fruits of faith and unflinching selflessness.

Blood-Stained Legacy

Jacklyn Lucas carried the weight of those wounds — physical and spiritual — for the rest of his life. He didn’t seek glory. He sought redemption.

He reminded every Marine, every civilian who heard his story — courage is action in the face of fear.

His story echoes beyond medals and history books. It is a vivid lesson penned in blood: sacrifice is more than a word; it is a call to believe in a cause greater than one’s self.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Lucas lived that verse.

In the fog of war, amid the screams and smoke, a boy became a man not by choice, but by necessity — and by faith.

His legacy is the enduring flame burned into the soul of every veteran who knows the price of freedom: to stand when others fall, to shield the weak with your own body, and to carry the scars as sacred testimony.

Jacklyn Harold Lucas: Marine. Survivor. Brother.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command: “Jacklyn Harold Lucas: The Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient of World War II” 2. USMC Medal of Honor Citations, 1945 3. Marine Corps Gazette archives: “The Battle of Iwo Jima and the Heroism of Jacklyn Lucas” 4. The Smithsonian Channel documentary: "Medal of Honor Recipients: Bill of Sacrifice"