Medal of
Honor
World War II
Jack Lucas was a fraudulent enlistee. He was only 14 years old when he joined the Marine Corps in 1942 after falsifying his enlistment papers to reflect his age at 17. Three years later, just five days after he actually turned seventeen, he was in his second day of combat at Iwo Jima.
Forty-thousand Marines made the initial landing at Iwo Jima, suffering 5,320 casualties in the first day alone. One of the most bitter fought battles of World War II, 27 Americans received Medals of Honor for their heroism on the small Pacific Island from February 19 to March 16th, 1945. Only 13 of these Medal recipients, with an average age of 23 years, survived to wear their Medal. Jack Lucas, at seventeen, became the youngest American in this century from any branch of service, to receive our Nation's highest award. Despite the horrible wounds caused by selflessly covering two enemy grenades with his own body to save his comrades, he was one of the few to survive.
Jack Lucas is a true patriot, a man who loves our Country and has sacrificed much to preserve it. He makes frequent visits to schools and veterans organizations to speak to the public about the service and sacrifice that are required by those who live in a free society. In 1995 he was invited to Washington, DC for President Clinton's State of the Union address, where the World War II hero was introduced to a rousing standing ovation by both houses of the United States Congress. More recently, he and his wife Ruby, attended ceremonies where Jack's story was placed in the mast of a US Ship.
Jack Lucas is perhaps, best defined by the words of our President upon introducing him during that 1995 State of the Union Address:
