Jacklyn H. Lucas

American Marine and Medal of Honor Recipient (1928–2008)

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 feet (2 m) and 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. 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 14, Lucas had his 17th birthday while at sea, five days before the invasion of Iwo Jima began. 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. He volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War, but was not allowed to go, and ended his time as a captain in 1965 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, training younger troops who would see action in Vietnam. After his military service ended, Lucas married, fathered several children and established a profitable chain of butcher shops in Maryland. However, he accrued back taxes with the IRS, depriving him of his disability benefits. In 1977, Lucas was notified by Maryland police that his second wife and son in law were plotting to kill him; the two pleaded guilty to conspiracy and were granted probation after Lucas asked the court to show mercy. By the 1980s, Lucas was living off his life savings. In 1985, his mobile home burned down, forcing him to camp. In August of that year, Lucas was arrested when marijuana plants were found in the corn field he was camping in. The State of Maryland initially planned to charge Lucas with unlawful manufacture and possession of controlled dangerous substances, but the charges were eventually dropped. When the keel of the Iwo Jima (christened in 2000) was laid, Lucas placed his Medal of Honor citation in the ship's hull, where it remains sealed. On August 3, 2006, Lucas, along with 15 other living Marine Medal of Honor recipients, was presented the Medal of Honor flag by Commandant of the Marine Corps General Michael Hagee at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D. C., in front of over 1,000 people, including family, friends and Marines. Lucas said of the ceremony, "To have these young men here in our presence — it just rejuvenates this old heart of mine. I love the Corps even more knowing that my country is defended by such fine young people." Lucas died at a hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on June 5, 2008, of leukemia, with family and friends by his side. On September 18, 2016, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, Jack H. Lucas, would be named in honor of Lucas. The Jack H. Lucas left Ingalls on September 27, 2023 and was commissioned in Tampa, Florida on October 7, 2023.