Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient Jacklyn Lucas of Iwo Jima

Jan 11 , 2026

Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient Jacklyn Lucas of Iwo Jima

Jacklyn Harold Lucas was a boy standing in the eye of hell at just 14 years old—too young to be sent to war, too fierce to stay behind. On Iwo Jima’s blasted sands, he became a man by choice, not by age. His story is a scar stitched deep into the Marine Corps’ legacy—a raw testament to the brutal cost of saving others.

Background & Faith

Born in 1928 in Plymouth, North Carolina, Jacklyn Lucas was restless and full of fight from the start. The Great Depression shaped his grit; the church molded his soul. Raised by a mother who grounded him in faith, Lucas clung to a quiet conviction—to protect, no matter the price.

Before war called, he'd been a Marine two years shy of legal enlistment, lying about his age to answer the drumbeat of duty. His youthful face masked a warrior’s resolve forged in the shadow of God’s promise.

“I had a Bible verse in my wallet,” Lucas said years later. “Psalm 91: ‘He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.’ I believed that on Iwo Jima.” [1]

The Battle That Defined Him

February 20, 1945. The beaches of Iwo Jima whipped with gunfire and smoke. The Marine Corps’ 5th Division fought viciously against entrenched Japanese forces. The island was a nightmare of ash, grit, and blood.

Lucas was manning a trench with two fellow Marines when two grenades clattered into their position. Time froze. The echoes of war shut out to one brutal decision—he threw himself on those grenades.

Two explosive bursts ripped through his body. Shrapnel tore flesh and bone. Against every law of nature, he survived both blasts. His chest was riddled with shards; legs mangled beyond recognition. But his comrades lived.

A boy barely fourteen crushed beneath hellfire so his brothers could fight another moment longer. The kind of courage legends are forged from.

Recognition

Jacklyn Lucas earned the Medal of Honor for this act. The citation calls it “above and beyond the call of duty.” The youngest Marine ever decorated so.

“Even among Marines, it is rarely witnessed. To survive two such blasts, then go on to serve, that’s something else.” — Commandant Leonard F. Chapman Jr. [2]

Eight months post-injury, Lucas returned to the line—not as a victim, but as a symbol. Silver Stars, Purple Hearts followed, but his true award was the undying respect of the Corps.

His Medal ceremony was more than glory—it was a sanctuary of remembrance for those who did not survive the grenade’s fury. “That battle took more than flesh,” Lucas said. “It took pieces of me.”

Legacy & Lessons

Jacklyn Lucas’s story is not just a footnote of youth and valor. It’s a mirror reflecting sacrifice’s true weight. War demands everything, and sometimes, the bravest act is to become the shield.

His wounds never fully healed. He battled pain quietly—physical and spiritual alike—until his passing in 2008. But his legacy endures in every Marine who charges into the teeth of danger, knowing what might come.

Redemption lives in that courage to lay down your flesh to preserve a brother’s life.

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

Jacklyn Lucas reminds us: heroic acts often come from the youngest, the overlooked, the fiercely faithful. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the refusal to let fear claim your soul.

Sources

1. Marines Magazine, “Jacklyn Harold Lucas: The Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient,” 2006. 2. Leonard F. Chapman Jr., Marine Corps Historical Center, Medal of Honor testimonies, 1975.