Jack Lucas

Jacklyn Harold "Jack" Lucas (February 14, 1928 – June 5, 2008) was an American Marine in World War II who was awarded the Medal of Honor at the age of 17 years as a private first class in the Marine Corps during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

During a close firefight in two trenches between Lucas and three Marines with 11 Japanese soldiers, Lucas saved the lives of the other three Marines from two enemy hand grenades that were thrown into their trench by unhesitatingly placing himself on one grenade, while in the next instant pulling the other grenade under him.

The grenade he covered with his body exploded, and wounded him severely; the other grenade failed to explode.

He is the youngest Marine and the youngest serviceman in World War II to be awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor.

He later commissioned into the United States Army and reached the rank of captain.

On October 7, 2023, the United States Navy commissioned the USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) in his honor at the Port of Tampa, Tampa Bay Florida.

Lucas was born in Plymouth, North Carolina, on February 14, 1928.

After his father, a tobacco farmer, died when he was ten, his mother sent him to nearby Edwards Military Institute in Salemburg.

He rose to be a cadet captain, and was the captain of the football team.

He was an all-around sportsman, also taking part in baseball, softball, basketball, boxing, wrestling, horseback riding, trap and skeet shooting, and hunting.

On August 8, 1942, Lucas enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at Norfolk, Virginia, forging his mother's name on the parental consent form falsely giving his age as 17 and bribing a notary.

He was, in fact, only 14 years old, but was 5 ft and 180 lb with a muscular build.

He was sent directly to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, for recruit training.

During his rifle qualification, he qualified as a sharpshooter.

Lucas was next assigned to the Marine barracks at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.

In June 1943, he was transferred to the 21st Replacement Battalion at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, and one month later he went to the 25th Replacement Battalion, and successfully completed schooling at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, which qualified him as a heavy machine gun crewman.

He was sent by train to San Diego with his unit.

He left the continental United States on November 4, 1943, and the following month he joined the 6th Base Depot of the V Amphibious Corps at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

On January 29, 1944, he was promoted to private first class.

On January 10, 1945, according to statements he made to his comrades, Lucas walked out of camp to join a combat organization wearing a khaki uniform and carrying his dungarees and field shoes in a roll under his arm.

He was declared UA (Unauthorized Absence) when he failed to return that night.

He was treated at various field hospitals prior to his arrival in San Francisco, California, on March 28, 1945.

He eventually underwent 21 surgeries.

For the rest of his life, there remained about 200 pieces of metal, some the size of 22 caliber bullets, in his body, which frequently set off airport metal detectors.

On February 14, Lucas had his 17th birthday while at sea, five days before the invasion of Iwo Jima began.

He stowed away on board the USS Deuel (APA-160), which was transporting the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines of the 5th Marine Division to Iwo Jima.

On February 8, the day before he would have been placed on the Marine Corps "deserter list", he turned himself in to Marine Captain Robert Dunlap, commanding officer of C Company.

He was taken by Dunlap to the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel C. Pollock, who assigned him to Dunlap's rifle company as a rifleman; his punishment for going UA was an administrative reduction in rank to private.

On February 19, Lucas participated in the 5th Division's landing on Iwo Jima with C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines.

On February 20, Lucas and three Marines who were members of a four-man fire team from one of C Company's platoons were creeping through a twisting ravine towards or at an enemy airstrip when they spotted an enemy pillbox and took cover in a trench.

They then spotted 11 Japanese soldiers in a parallel trench (they had a tunnel to there from the pillbox) and opened fire on them with rifles.

The Japanese also opened fire and threw two grenades inside the Marines' trench in front of them.

Lucas spotted the grenades on the ground in front of his comrades and yelled "grenades".

He then jumped over a Marine and dove for them, jamming one of them into the volcanic ash and soft sand with his rifle and covering it with his body, while reaching out and pulling the other one beneath him.

One grenade exploded, tossing Lucas onto his back and severely wounding him in the right arm and wrist, right leg and thigh, and chest.

He was still conscious and barely alive after the blast, holding in his left hand the other grenade, which did not explode.

His three comrades were unharmed, and the Japanese soldiers in their trench were all killed.

The three Marines left, believing Lucas was dead.

Lucas was found by Marines from another unit passing by who called for Navy corpsmen who attended to his wounds and protected him with a carbine from being shot and killed by a Japanese soldier in the trench.

He was evacuated by stretcher bearers to the beach, onto an LST to a cargo ship used as a hospital (all the hospital ships were full) and then to the hospital ship USS Samaritan (AH-10).