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

Feb 27 , 2026

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

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was fourteen years old when he waded into hell on Iwo Jima. Barely a man by birthright, yet carrying a warrior’s heart forged in steel and blood. Moments after joining a Marine platoon, two enemy grenades rolled into their foxhole. Without hesitation, Lucas dove onto those explosives, flattening himself over them. The blasts tore into his body—severe burns, shattered limbs—but his selfless act sealed the lives of his brothers in that dirt hole. He became the youngest Marine to earn the Medal of Honor during World War II by the sheer force of raw courage.

Roots of Resolve

Jacklyn Harold Lucas came from a working-class background in Canton, North Carolina. A high school kid who ran away from home, driven by stubborn grit and a desperate patriotism. Too young to enlist conventionally, he lied about his age and snuck into the Marines at just fifteen. That was no boy’s game.

Faith threaded through his family’s life quietly but surely. His mother was a devout Christian who instilled values of sacrifice and duty—a moral compass in a chaotic world. Those values burned like a beacon to young Lucas, guiding his reckless courage under fire. He lived by a code that placed the welfare of his men above all else.

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

He would embody those words in searing flesh and honor.

Baptism by Fire: Iwo Jima, February 1945

The Battle of Iwo Jima was hell by every measure—smoke-choked skies, craters filled with mud and fire, Japanese snipers and booby traps lurking behind every ridge. This volcanic slab of land was hell’s anvil. Lucas arrived there on February 20, 1945, barely sixteen years old.

Less than 24 hours after being assigned to his unit, he was pinned down in a slit trench with a handful of Marines. The air was thick with the stench of sulfur and blood. Two grenades suddenly bounced into their position.

Lucas made a split-second calculation. He didn’t have time to think. Without hesitation, he dove toward the grenades, throwing his body over them like a shield. The explosion tore his chest, hands, and legs to shreds.

Two of the Marines surfing that hellfire with him later recounted how Lucas’s sacrifice saved their lives. Another grenade rolled into the trench seconds later. Even severely wounded, Lucas threw himself on that one too.

His wounds were so catastrophic the medics considered giving him a mercy death, but he survived, enduring months of surgery.

Medal of Honor: Valor Etched in Flesh

On June 28, 1945, Lucas received the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman. Tad Lucas, as he was known, was the youngest Marine ever to earn the nation’s highest military decoration. He’d earned it not with veteran savvy but with raw, fierce heart and God’s grace.

His citation reads in part:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty... Despite his severe wounds, [Lucas] refused evacuation until all his comrades had been cared for.”¹

General Clifton B. Cates, Commandant of the Marine Corps, lauded him as “a living example of courage and self-sacrifice for which our Corps stands.”

Lucas carried scars not just on his body but etched deep in his soul. He never glamorized what happened. “I just did what anyone else would’ve done,” he said once—a humble soldier’s truth.

Lessons Carved in Blood and Bone

Jacklyn Lucas’s story is a raw reminder that true courage doesn’t come in perfect packages. It is born amid pain, fear, and impossible odds. His youth stripped away illusions of glory, revealing sacrifice’s brutal clarity.

His life speaks across generations—that sacrificial love is stronger than fear, that honor is measured in moments, not years, and that faith can anchor the soul in the storm of war.

For veterans, Lucas’s journey whispers that scars are not signs of weakness but badges of survival and testimony. To civilians, it offers a solemn debt owed to those who stand in the breach when terror’s shadow falls.

When Lucas lay on that volcanic soil, shattered and burning, he answered death with one definitive act: to save the lives of his brothers-in-arms at the ultimate cost to himself. A boy made a man by sacrifice.

That kind of valor is the legacy we carry forward—not to glorify war, but to honor the sacred price paid for freedom.

And may we never forget those who answered that call, in their flesh and blood, with hearts unquenchable.

Sources

1. Medal of Honor citation, Jacklyn Harold Lucas — United States Marine Corps Archives 2. "Jacklyn Harold Lucas: Youngest Marine to Receive Medal of Honor," Military Times Hall of Valor 3. Toland, John. In Hell on Iwo Jima (1994)