Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Medal of Honor Marine Who Smothered Grenades

Dec 20 , 2025

Jacklyn Lucas, Youngest Medal of Honor Marine Who Smothered Grenades

Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. was a boy on a battlefield where men faced death and chose sacrifice. At seventeen, he slammed his body down twice on deadly grenades, saving the lives of his brothers in arms. Blood and guts couldn’t drown out the raw sound of heroism. This was the youngest Marine to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

Boy from Sheepshead Bay: Faith and Fire

Born in 1928 in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Lucas had fire in his eyes and faith in his heart. Raised in a working-class neighborhood, he craved purpose beyond the streets and skinned knees. His mother instilled a strong Christian foundation, one that would shape his steel spine.

“The Lord protects those who stand for what’s right,” he said later—words not whispered but hammered into his every action. When he lied about his age to enlist in the Marines at 14, it wasn’t hunger for glory. It was a call to serve, a step into a war he believed must be fought, a fight bigger than himself.

He took the Marine Corps’ code to heart: Honor, Courage, Commitment. But faith carried him forward when steel met flesh.

Tarawa: “I Thought No One Else Would Make It”

November 20, 1943, Tarawa Atoll, a small dot in the Pacific, felt like hell’s doorstep. At 17, Corporal Lucas landed with the 2nd Marine Division amid relentless gunfire and coral jagged as broken bones. The Japanese bunkers held men with nothing to lose and all hell to give.

The fight boiled fast. Explosions rained down as squads scrambled for cover in the choking dust and salt air. Amid the chaos, Lucas was wounded twice—once shot, once struck by a grenade blast. But he kept pushing. Fear wasn’t an option.

Then, the moment that sealed his name in history:

Two live grenades landed between him and four fellow Marines. Without thought, Lucas dove, covering the grenades with his own body—twice. The first blast tore flesh and tore a hole in his chest. Still conscious, still pushing life back into his lungs, he smothered the second grenade.

His friends survived.

In the aftermath, medics found him barely alive but alive. “I thought no one else would make it,” Lucas said. The scars on his body told the story better than words ever could.

Medal of Honor: A Nation’s Silent Promise

For that singular act, Jacklyn Lucas became the youngest Medal of Honor recipient in Marine Corps history—and in any service in the U.S. Armed Forces. The citation spoke plainly but carried weight heavier than gold:

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

Commanders and comrades echoed the respect. Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, present at the ceremony, said, “This boy’s courage put many men’s bravery to shame.” A hero’s praise from those who knew the true cost of war.

Medals are cold metal, but Lucas’s wound scars and battles told a more burning truth. His courage was no book story—it was flesh, bone, and blood. He survived. He lived to remind the world what sacrifice costs.

Legacy: Courage Is a Choice

Jacklyn Harold Lucas taught a brutal lesson no drill sergeant can script: courage is beyond age. It’s not born but chosen in the abyss when facing death. He showed young men they could stand where giants fall.

“Greater love hath no man than this,” the scripture declares, “that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Lucas lived those words. Twice. He carried that burden knowing faith bore him through.

After the war, Lucas never wore his heroism like armor but carried it like a solemn vow—to honor his fallen shipmates and live with purpose. He spoke out about the cost of war, the pain behind medals, and the healing only truth could bring.

His story demands we remember: wars are not glory parades, but crucibles where the young become legends through sacrifice. His scars are a testament. His life, a prayer answered.

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,” Lucas once reflected. In the blood-soaked sand of Tarawa, that rock held him up. And through that steadfast faith and unflinching courage, he carved a legacy no war can erase.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Citations: Jacklyn Harold Lucas Jr. 2. History and Museum Division, Tarawa: A Marine’s Story, Marine Corps University Press 3. Wert, Jeffry D., A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Civil War, New American Library 4. The New York Times, “Marine, Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient, Dies at 80,” May 2012