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No force in the world could stop Jack Lucas from serving his country.
While other 14-year-old boys supported the war effort by collecting scrap metal around
town, Lucas forged his mother's signature and joined the Marines.
Then, at merely 17, he would prove to be made of the stuff of legends while storming the
beaches of Iwo Jima.
As Japanese troops hurled two live grenades into the trench where Lucas and several fellow
marines were positioned, the young boy reacted impulsively by throwing his body over the
two explosives to save his comrades.
After being pierced by over 250 pieces of shrapnel, Lucas refused to succumb to disability
and continued serving his country by joining the Army's airborne division.
Then, defying every odd, he survived a parachute drop that malfunctioned.
Lucas would become the youngest man to earn the Medal of Honor in World War 2, but would
continue to cement his reputation as “The Indestructible” as he faced several more
accidents and even an unexpected attempt on his life…
Joining the Marines
Jacklyn "Jack" Lucas was barely 13 years old when Japan stunned the world by attacking
Pearl Harbor, forcing the US into the war.
The surprising event left a deep impression on the young boy who, from that moment on,
made it his mission to leave his town of Plymouth, North Carolina, and join the fight against
the Axis powers.
Lucas felt more than prepared to go to war; he was an energetic and athletic boy at a
young age and was a cadet captain in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
He was also the captain of the football team and practiced baseball, softball, basketball,
boxing, wrestling, horseback riding, trap and skeet shooting, and hunting.
Despite his willingness to serve his country, Lucas needed to be at least 18 years old to
enlist.
Fortunately, he looked older than his actual age.
As the US military allowed the enlistment of 17-year-old boys if they had signed consent
from their parents, he figured he could forge his mother's name and bribe a local notary
to join the US Marines Corps.
On August 8, 1942, at only 14 years old, Lucas enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at Norfolk,
Virginia.
He didn't raise much suspicion, as he was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds
with a muscular build, easily matching other 17-year-olds.
The young recruit was immediately sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island,
South Carolina, to begin his training.
Then, during his rifle training evaluation, he stood out as a remarkable member and qualified
as a sharpshooter.
Lucas would continue to excel, quickly qualifying as a heavy machine gun crewman and surpassing
many other recruits older than him.
Then, on November 4, 1943, he left the continental United States and was transferred to the 6th
Base Depot of the Amphibious Corps the following month at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
And he was soon promoted to private first class.
Unfortunately, his commanders eventually learned that he was only 16 years old and that he
had lied to join the Armed Forces.
In response, Lucas was relegated to driving a truck around Pearl Harbor.
However, this setback would not stop him from accomplishing what he considered was his ultimate
duty…
Stowaway
The curtains on the theaters of war were drawing close, and if Lucas wanted to see the frontlines,
he would have to seize the opportunity right then.
Thus, on January 10, 1945, he walked out of his camp wearing a khaki uniform and carrying
his jeans and field shoes in a roll under his arm.
That night, after he failed to show for roll call, he was declared an Unauthorized Absence
or UA.
But Lucas had no plans to abandon military service; instead, he stowed away onboard USS
Deuel, which was transferring the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines of the 5th Marine Division to
Iwo Jima.
Back in camp, and after several days missing, Lucas was about to be placed on the Marine
Corps "deserter list,” but he turned himself in to Marine Captain Robert Dunlap, the commanding
officer of C Company.
Dunlap took the young stowaway to the Battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel
C. Pollock, to decide what to do with the young rebel.
The ranking officer decided that Lucas, who was about to turn 17 and who showed a considerable
passion for fighting, could join Dunlap's rifle company as a rifleman.
However, Lucas’s rank was reduced to private as punishment for his deeds, but this mattered
little to the passionate young private who was about to realize his dream of fighting
for his country.
On February 14, 1945, Lucas celebrated his 17th birthday while at sea, just five days
before the invasion of Iwo Jima began.
Selfless Sacrifice
On February 19, Lucas's 4-year-long yearning finally materialized as he bravely stormed
the beaches of Iwo Jima as part of the 5th Division's landing.
Luca's training and determination proved effective despite his young age and the colossal scale
of the military clash, and he did not hesitate to do his duty in an exemplary manner.
The day after the landings, Lucas joined a four-man fire team from one of C Company's
platoons tasked with penetrating a series of maze-like ravines that led towards an enemy
airstrip.
As they crept through gulches, the Marines spotted an enemy pillbox and took cover in
a trench to avoid the enemy fire.
Worse still, the team identified 11 Japanese soldiers in a parallel groove that led directly
to the enemy's strongpoint.
The Marines then took the initiative and opened fire on the entrenched enemy troopers, and
the Japanese responded with rifle fire of their own.
They then threw two grenades inside Lucas's trench.
Lucas was the first to spot the devices on the ground right in front of his comrades,
and he immediately yelled "grenades."
Then, without hesitating, he vaulted over a Marine and went straight for the explosives,
shoving one of them into the sand and covering it with his body.
As he enclosed the first grenade with his torso, he reached out and pulled the second
grenade beneath him, securing both explosives under his body within a split second.
Then it happened.
One of the grenades detonated, hurling Lucas onto his back and sending hundreds of shrapnel
pieces through his right arm and wrist, right leg and thigh, face, and chest.
In the heat of the moment, the other three Marines continued to repel the Japanese attacks,
eventually leaving the trench believing Lucas hadn’t survived.
As the Marines neutralized the Japanese forces in the area, Lucas lay in the trench almost
out of breath and still holding the grenade that did not explode in his hand.
A Marine passing by saw Lucas and called for help.
A Navy Corpsman then treated his wounds while he shot another Japanese soldier preparing
to throw a grenade at the wounded man.
Lucas had to wait on the beach until nightfall, when he was taken to a hospital ship where
he underwent the first of 26 surgeries to remove the shrapnel from his torn body.
He made a miraculous recovery but would endure years of physical therapy to regain the use
of his arm.
Eight months later, on October 5, 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented Lucas with the Congressional
Medal of Honor, forever acknowledging the 17-year-old's selfless sacrifice.
Free Fall
For the next 16 years, Lucas tried his hand at commerce, earning a business degree from
High Point University as he continued to undergo physical therapy on his arm.
But being the youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor was not enough for him.
In 1961, at 33 years old, Lucas decided to resume his military service by joining the
Army's 82nd Airborne Division and conquer his fear of heights.
But destiny would put his resilience to the test again when both of his parachutes failed
during a training jump, sending him to the ground with no way to reduce his speed.
Lucas somehow survived the 3,500-feet fall, and would later credit the incredible feat
to a last-minute roll and his sturdy build.
As his team leader put it: (QUOTE) "Jack was the last one out of the plane and the first
one on the ground.
"
The freefall left him with minor injuries, and after two weeks of recovery he was jumping
off a military airplane with his stoic determination unscathed.
Eager to serve his nation in combat again, Lucas volunteered to fight in the Vietnam
War but was restricted from going.
He then ended his military career in 1965 as a captain at Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
training younger soldiers who would see action in Asia.
A Survivor
With his military service behind him, Lucas settled into a comfortable civilian life,
becoming a successful owner of a chain of butcher shops, marrying, and having several
children.
Still, life wasn't done testing the limits of Jack's survivability.
During his years as a businessman, Lucas survived numerous spectacular car crashes, and every
time he rose from the wrecks completely unharmed.
Eventually, he would run into trouble with the and lose all his fortune, forced to live
off his disability pension in a mobile home.
As the tax evasion charges took hold, his disability benefits were taken away, and he
became destitute.
Then, in 1977, Lucas was alerted by Maryland police that his second wife and son-in-law
were plotting to end his life.
They then pleaded guilty to conspiracy and were granted probation after Lucas asked the
court to show mercy on them.
Unable to catch a break, Lucas lost the few things he had when a sudden and suspicious
fire broke out on his uninsured mobile home in 1985.
The war hero managed to save his most significant belongings, including his Medal of Honor,
and was unharmed, albeit homeless.
His fame as an invincible war hero quickly spread across the veterans’ community, with
his daughter-in-law, Georganne Lucas of Woodbridge, commenting: (QUOTE) "He's like a cat with
nine lives."
After the fire, Lucas was forced to camp in a farm field, living off of the little savings
he had left.
Soon after losing his home, the 57-year-old was arrested by Maryland state police as they
found him camping in a cornfield dotted with marijuana plants.
Lucas denied all the charges but had to stay in jail until his children could raise 5,000
dollars for his bond.
Due to his problems with the law, Lucas felt temporarily unworthy of carrying the Medal
of Honor, even considering abstaining from participating in Medal of Honor Recipient
events.
However, he would reconsider this position and would continue to be an essential icon
for the veterans’ community.
He recalled: (QUOTE) "At first, I thought I wouldn't come, and then I figured, why the
hell not?
I wanted to see them and there are not that many of us anymore.
I don't want to embarrass the Medal of Honor.
I love these guys.
They wear the medal proudly.
When I got my medal, they didn't say, 'Jack Lucas, you've got to be a saint from now on.
You've got to guard every moment.'
I'm not sure the other guys are all angels either.
I know I've never grown any wings."
But life eventually caught up with him, and he succumbed to leukemia in 2008 at 80 years
of age.
Then, in September of 2016, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus declared that an Arleigh Burke-class
destroyer would be named in honor of Jack Lucas, the indestructible war hero.
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