Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif. -- It takes a special kind of person to come face-to-face with their own mortality, choose to ignore the basic human instinct of self-preservation, and sacrifice their life without hesitation in a purely selfless feat of bravery so that their friends might live. Jacklyn Harrel Lucas did just that, at 17 years of age he dove onto not one but two live hand grenades taking the full blast for his friends, and living to tell the tale.
Jacklyn Lucas was born on Feb. 14, 1928 in Plymouth, North Carolina. He attended a military academy where he was captain of the football team, and an all around athlete.
At 5’8” tall and around 180lbs, Lucas was big for his age and eager to serve. At 14 years of age he forged his mother’s signature on an enlistment waiver, and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve, August 1942. He gave his age as 17, and went to Parris Island, South Carolina, for recruit training.
Pvt. Lucas was transferred to the 21st Replacement Battalion at New River, North Carolina, in June 1943. One month later, he successfully completed schooling, which qualified him as a heavy machine gun crewman, with the 25th Replacement Battalion.
Lucas was sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, November 1943, with the 6th Base Depot of the 5th Amphibious Corps. He was advanced to private first class on Jan. 29, 1944.
Upon discovery of his true age, the Marines threatened to send him home but kept Pfc. Lucas driving a truck in Hawaii instead.
Not happy being kept from combat, Pfc. Lucas stowed away aboard a Navy ship, the USS Deuel, headed for the front lines in the Pacific. He was declared absent without leave (AWOL) and reduced to the rank of private. He turned himself in aboard the ship to avoid being listed as a deserter and volunteered to fight.
The officers aboard did not know Lucas’ age, they did not ask and he did not tell. Lucas was allowed to remain, and was transferred to Headquarters Company, 5th Marine Division.
Six days before his selfless, heroic act that earned him the Medal of Honor, Jack Lucas turned 17 aboard that Navy ship.
Serving as a rifleman with his newly acquired unit, Pvt. Lucas participated in landing operations on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945. The following day, while near the front lines, a couple of grenades rolled into their trench. Lucas yelled to his friends to get out, as he threw himself over one grenade he then pulled the second under his body, absorbing the blasts and saving his company.
Thought to be dead, his company continued fighting. While retrieving his dog tags they found Lucas miraculously still alive. Severely wounded, he was evacuated and treated at various field hospitals. It took 26 surgeries to remove more than 250 pieces of shrapnel from Lucas’ body. While he was a patient at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, he was reappointed to the rank of private first class and the mark of desertion was removed from his record.
For his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” Lucas was awarded the Medal of Honor. At 17, he was the youngest member of the military to receive the prestigious award in any conflict other than the Civil War. Lucas became a symbol of patriotism in the ensuing decades, meeting presidents and traveling the world to speak with front-line troops and fellow veterans.
In addition to the Medal of Honor, Pfc. Lucas was awarded the Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one bronze star, American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
Discharged from the Marines for disability resulting from combat injuries in September 1945, Lucas went on to earn a business degree.
Wanting to conquer his fear of heights, at the age of 40, Lucas became an Army paratrooper. During his first training jump, both of his parachutes failed, and he fell 3,500 feet, but a last-second roll as he hit the ground along with his stocky build are credited with saving his life.
Undeterred by yet another brush with death, Lucas continued his four-year tour with the 82nd Airborne Division and retired as a captain.
In 2008 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, he faced his last battle, leukemia, and like the true hero he was, Lucas died on June 5, after asking the doctor to remove his dialysis machine.
Jacklyn Harrel Lucas was 80 years old.