Jack Lucas, WWII MOH recipient Gravely ill

[cato2]

Teen WWII hero, now 80, gravely ill with cancer

A Marine at 14, Jack Lucas used his body to shield others from grenades



Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, left, confers with World War II Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas of Hattiesburg, Miss., after being sworn into office in this January file photo.
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Rogelio V. Solis / AP


JACKSON, Miss. - A World War II veteran who received the nation's highest military honor when he was only 17 is in the fight of his life, battling cancer, his biographer said.Eighty-year-old Jack Lucas, who lied his way into the Marines at age 14, was nearly killed when he used his body to shield his fellow Marines from grenades on Iwo Jima in February 1945. He was just a few days past his 17th birthday at the time.

He received the Medal of Honor from President Truman later that year, becoming the youngest Marine to receive the award.

D.K. Drum, whose book "Indestructible" tells Lucas' story, said Monday that he is in "grave" condition at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, where family and friends are staying with him 24 hours a day."He is fighting very hard, very hard," Drum said. "It's probably his hardest fight, but he's not giving up." Lucas did not have the energy for an interview Monday, Drum said.

A native of North Carolina, Lucas was already eager to join the Marines at age 13.

"At 14, I told 'em I was 17 and joined up," he said in an Associated Press interview in October 1945. "The Lucases are all tough fighters."

In February 1945, shortly after his 17th birthday, he was with Allied forces that landed on the beach at Iwo Jima. While in a trench with three fellow squad members, he spotted two grenades on the ground, covering them with his body.

He was severely wounded when one grenade went off and survived multiple surgeries and months in the hospital.Over the decades, the colorful Lucas became a symbol of patriotism and has been sought out by many to tell his story. "Indestructible" was written for a seventh-grade audience to reach as many people as possible.

"If he has a chance to say one thing to people, it's to never say, 'I can't,'" Drum said. "You don't know what you can do until you try."
Teen WWII hero, now 80 and ill - Military - MSNBC.com

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:

"The last person I want to introduce is Jack Lucas from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Jack, would you stand up?

"Fifty years ago in the sands of Iwo Jima, Jack Lucas taught and learned the lessons of citizenship. On February 20, 1945, he and three of his buddies encountered the enemy and two grenades at their feet. Jack Lucas threw himself on both of them. In that moment he saved the lives of his companions and miraculously in the next instant a medic saved his life. He gained a foothold for freedom, and at the age of 17, just a year older than his grandson, who is up there with him today, and his son, who is a West Point graduate and a veteran, at 17 Jack Lucas became the youngest Marine in history and the youngest soldier in this century to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.
"All these years later, yesterday, here is what he said about that day. 'Didn't matter where you were from or who you were, you relied on one another. You did it for your country.' We all gain when we give and we reap what we sow. That's at the heart of this New Covenant, responsibility, opportunity and citizenship, more than stale chapters in some remote civics book, they are still the virtue by which we can fulfill ourselves and reach our God-given potential and be like them, and also to fulfill the eternal promise of this country, the enduring dream from that first and most sacred covenant. I believe every person in this country still believes that we are created equal, and given by our Creator the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
"This is a very, very great country and our best days are still to come."

President William J. Clinton
State of the Union Address, 1995

Semper Fi Mac

[leobold1]

I've talked to this man twice before and heard him speak a third time. I've also spoken to him on the phone about half a dozen times. He's one hell of a Marine.

I don't use this often, because I think its far overused, but in his case, I make an exception every time.

Semper Fi, brother.