Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine to Receive the Medal of Honor

Nov 08 , 2025

Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Marine to Receive the Medal of Honor

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was fourteen—and not yet a man—when war ripped through his life like an unstoppable storm. At that age, most boys are lost in childhood dreams. Lucas was lost in a war zone, bullets snapping like thunder around him. His body, barely grown, became a shield for brothers in arms. He threw himself on grenades to save them.

A Boy with the Heart of a Marine

Born in 1928, in Plymouth, North Carolina, Lucas grew up with a fierce patriotism. His family was no stranger to sacrifice. From an early age, the Marines called to him—not just the uniform, but the code. A deeply held sense of duty burned in this boy’s chest. Faith and honor ran through his veins, grounding him before the battlefield ever did.

At a time when innocence was supposed to reign, his heart beat with a warrior’s call. He lied about his age just to enlist. The Corps didn’t take him at first, but he didn’t quit. In April 1942, aged just 14 years and 10 months, he shipped out. Most knew him as a kid. Lucas knew he was there to fight.

The Battle That Defined Him: Iwo Jima

February 19, 1945. The nightmare island of Iwo Jima. The air thick with sulfur and smoke, waves of Marines poured onto the sand under relentless gunfire. Lucas, now 17, clutching his rifle, moved forward with his unit. The hell that day was unthinkable—grenades tossed into foxholes, men crushed under volcano ash and bullets.

At one point, two grenades landed in a foxhole where Lucas and two others huddled. Without hesitation, he leapt on them, absorbing the blasts with his body. The shock should have killed him where he lay. Instead, it left him horribly wounded—burns, scars, broken bones—but alive. And, most importantly, he saved the lives of two fellow Marines.

The flesh torn, the noise deafening, but the instinct to protect overtook all pain. Soldiers who saw that moment have said it was an act of pure, unfiltered courage.

Honors Earned in Blood and Valor

Lucas’s wounds were severe. His recovery stretched months, a brutal testament to the damage absorbed. In spite of his age and injuries, he earned the Medal of Honor—the youngest Marine to receive it in World War II. President Harry Truman pinned it on him on October 5, 1945.

His citation reads with gravitas:

“For extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty...”

His commanders called him a symbol. Fellow Marines named him a brother who gave everything without hesitation. Lucas embodied the very soul of the Corps—the brotherhood that asks you to die for your buddies and asks nothing in return but honor.

The Legacy of Sacrifice and Redemption

Jacklyn Lucas never sought glory. He carried scars, physical and unseen, that no medal could erase. Yet his story is a somber reminder: Courage is often raw, painful, and costly.

His life after combat was quiet but no less valiant—an advocate for veterans, a living storehouse of lessons learned in the blood and dirt. His faith, tested by fire, gave him purpose beyond the battlefield.

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

This boy who became a man in the crucible of war showed us the true definition of sacrifice. Not just surviving, but living with the scars—bearing witness to what honor demands.

Jacklyn Harold Lucas did not just shield his men from death. He shielded us all from forgetting what it means to sacrifice without question. From a child in combat to a legend of the Corps—his legacy burns eternal. We remember because he lived the covenant between warrior and brother, flesh and faith.

And in his story, we find redemption—not only for war’s wounds, but for the soul of a nation called to honor its bravest.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, "Jacklyn Harold Lucas: Youngest Marine Medal of Honor Recipient" 2. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, "Medal of Honor Citations: Iwo Jima" 3. David Brinkley, The Good Fight: A Life in Newspapering, on Truman Medal of Honor ceremony 4. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, official citation archive