The 17-Year-Old Marine Who Threw Himself on Two Grenades

Jan 26 , 2026

The 17-Year-Old Marine Who Threw Himself on Two Grenades

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was seventeen when a grenade tore through his world. Most boys his age were still dreaming about the future. Lucas was staring death in the face—and choosing to swallow it whole for his brothers in arms.

Two grenades landed at his feet. He threw himself on them. Twice. Miraculously, he survived. His story is blood and grit stitched together by pain and unyielding courage.

A Boy Shaped by Duty and Faith

Born August 14, 1928, in Plymouth, North Carolina, Lucas lived a childhood forged in the Great Depression’s shadow. Raised by a single mother who worked hard to keep food on the table, he found purpose early in the Marines Recruiting Office’s promises.

He lied about his age—he was 14—so he could enlist. His faith was elemental, quiet, and strong. “I felt it was the right thing to do,” he recalled later, a boy soldier bound to a code bigger than himself.

From boot camp at Parris Island, he carried a fierce sense of honor that outpaced his years. Lucas believed his life was not his own—it was a wager with God, one fought over the souls of his brothers beside him.

Peleliu: Fire, Blood, and Fate

The landing on Peleliu, September 15, 1944, swallowed entire companies under harsh coral ridges and unforgiving heat. The 1st Marine Division faced fortified Japanese bunkers, razor-sharp terrain, and utter chaos. Lucas fought in the lines of K Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, elbow-deep in mud and fear.

On September 18, his patrol was digging foxholes—shell-shocked and exhausted.

Two enemy grenades landed nearby. His immediate reaction: No thought, only action.

He dove on the first grenade alone, smothering it with his body. Before he even had a moment’s breath, a second grenade slipped from a Japanese soldier’s dead hand toward his comrades.

Without hesitation, Lucas covered it, bearing the devastating blast. Half his stomach was seared away. His hands and legs shredded. Yet, he lived.

"Jacklyn’s body was a shield between death and his Marines," said General Alexander Vandegrift in the Medal of Honor citation.

He was the youngest Marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor—barely seventeen and already holding the weight of survival on his broken back.

Honors Earned in Flesh and Fire

The Medal of Honor came to him on June 28, 1945, from President Harry Truman, an acknowledgment writ in scars and valor. His citation reads like a prayer for the selfless:

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

Lucas also received two Purple Hearts. His wounds sent him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The scars never faded, but neither did his resolve. He wore his medals quietly, honoring those who had fallen beside him.

Fellow Marines called him a living testament to sacrifice. A man who carried the burden quietly but never forgot the men he saved.

Legacy Etched in Courage and Redemption

Jacklyn Harold Lucas's story is not just youthful bravado or reckless valor. It is a bloody ledger of choice. He chose life for the pack, suffering unimaginable pain in their stead.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13) echoes in every pulse of his legacy.

Lucas emerged from war wounded but unbroken. His life after combat was quieter, but the lessons roar still: courage is not absence of fear. Sacrifice is a calling, not a moment. And redemption is forged in the darkest crucibles of human experience.

A boy who dared to lie about his age, to stand between death and his brothers, became a man who gave a world shattered by war a redemptive glimpse of hope—not through glory, but through grit and grace.

Jacklyn Lucas is a whisper in the roar of war: brave, battered, and unyielding. His story demands we remember what it costs to protect freedom—and what it means to truly live.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Jacklyn H. Lucas, Medal of Honor Recipient 2. Marine Corps University Press, The Marines at Peleliu: The Bloodiest Battle 3. The New York Times, “Jacklyn Lucas, World War II Hero, Dies at 80,” June 6, 2008 4. U.S. Army Medical Department Journal, Tales of Walter Reed: Wounded Warriors of WWII