A Marine's Story: Captain Jacklyn "Jack" Harold Lucas



Captain Jacklyn "Jack" Harold Lucas was born on February 14, 1928, in Plymouth, North Carolina. e attended the Edwards Military Institute and was an all-around athlete, playing football, basketball, and softball. He also boxed and wrestled, as well as skeet and trap shooting. Captain Jacklyn H. Lucas left school at 14 and enlisted in the US Marine Corps on August 8, 1942, forging his mother's signature in response to World War II.

After training, where he qualified as a sharpshooter, he was first posted to Jacksonville, Florida, before leaving for Pearl Harbor in November 1943.   Dissatisfied with his duty station on Pearl Harbor and wanting to enter combat, on January 10, 1945, Captain Jacklyn Harold Lucas stowed aboard the USS Deuel with the 26th Marines. He turned himself in to command when far enough out to sea and was busted down to a private and assigned to rifleman duties.

On February 19, 1945, Captain Jacklyn Harold Lucas participated in the Marine landing on Iwo Jima, and while on patrol with three other marines, he earned a Congressional Medal of Honor when his patrol engaged a pocket of  11 enemy soldiers, who returned fire and lobbed two grenades. Captain Jacklyn Harold Lucas pushed the grenades deep into the sand of the beach with the butt of his rifle and then covered them with his body, saving the lives of the other three marines, who disabled the enemy. Believin Captain Lucas dead, he was left, and the remaining marines continued on patrol.

He was discovered alive by a following unit, who got Captain Jacklyn H. Lucas to a corpsman, and was evacuated, landing in San Francisco on March 28, 1945. He underwent more than 20 surgeries and would live with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel. President Harry Truman presented him with the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 4, 1945. He received a medical discharge from the US Marine Corps.



Captain Jack Lucas finished his high school education. Then he graduated from High Point University with a business degree in 1956. He spent a few years working in the private sector before reenlisting in the US Military, this time the US Army, in 1961. He was assigned to 82nd Airborne and suffered a jump accident on his first training jump after both parachutes failed. Captain Jacklyn H. Lucas fell approximately 3,500 feet and walked away from the fall because of a well-timed roll.

He volunteered for a combat deployment to Vietnam but was denied. He spent his US Army career at Fort Bragg, training airborne combat troops, and retired a Captain in 1965.

Captain Jack Lucas owned a chain of butchershops in Maryland and survived an assassination attempt by his second wife before retiring to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and dying of leukemia on June 5, 2008. He rests at the Highland Cemetery in Hattiesburg Mississipi.

Before he died, Captain Jacklyn H. Lucas donated his Congressional Medal of Honor to the US Marine Corps, who placed it in the hull of the USS Iwo Jima.   He also wrote the autobiography "Indestructible: The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima.


* Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here*


****************************************

a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photographer currently living in Salem, Virginia. 

In addition to the travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online photography gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

#TaketheBackRoads


Like my page? Please consider supporting my work by visiting my sponsors, my webshop, or by buying me a cup of coffee!











Location: Plymouth, NC, USA

Popular posts from this blog

A Soldier's Story: Lieutenant Sorrell Booke - Korean War

Image
Lieutenant Sorrell Booke was born on January 4, 1930, in Buffalo, New York. Always a performer, he made impressions for the local radio stations while attending Bennet High School, where he graduated class valedictorian in 1948. After high school, Lieutenant Sorrell Booke attended Columbia University, then moved to Yale University to receive his master's degree. However, his college education was briefly interrupted by his enlistment in the US Army during the Korean War, where Lieutenant Booke served as a counterintelligence officer. In 1960, after many years spent on the stage, Lieutenant Sorrell Booke made his way to Hollywood. He took on several roles in film, including one in the movie Black Like Me, before focusing on television roles. Lieutenant Sorrell Booke was nominated for an Emmy for his role in Dr. Kildare. He also appeared on M*A*S*H and All in the Family before landing his most famous role, that of Boss Hogg, in the television series Dukes of Hazzard, a part h...
Read more

An Airman's Story: Staff Sergeant Francis Pershing McNamara

Image
Staff Sergeant Francis Pershing McNamara was born on February 19, 1943, in Pollagh, Ireland. He immigrated to the U.S. at one-month-old aboard the USS Baltic and grew up in Parma, Ohio. Staff Sergeant Francis McNamara enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Services on March 19, 1942, in response to World War II and was trained as an ariel gunner. He was assigned to the 11th Bombardment Group and deployed to the Pacific theater. On May 27, 1943, during a rescue mission, the plane he was on, the Green Hornet, crashed into the Pacific. Staff Sergeant Francis McNamara, First Lieutenant Russell Allen Phillips, and First Lieutenant Louis Zamperini were the only survivors and were adrift in the ocean. After 33 days, on June 30, 1943, Staff Sergeant Francis Pershing McNamara succumbed to starvation and exposure and was buried at sea. He is memorialized in the Court of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* ****************************...
Read more

A Soldier's Story: Sergeant James Oliver Rigney Jr - Vietnam War

Image
Sergeant James Oliver Rigney Jr was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 17, 1948. After his high school graduation, he attended Clemson University and played collegiate football. Sergeant Rigney left college after one year to enlist in the US Army. Training as a gunner, Sergeant James Oliver Rigney Jr. deployed twice to Vietnam with the 68th Assault Helicopter Squadron.   He returned to the US in 1970 and enrolled at The Citadel, where he studied physics. Sergeant James Oliver Rigney Jr. graduated in 1974 and began working for the US Navy at the Charleston Naval Shipyard.  In 1977, Sergeant James Oliver Rigney fell from a submarine in drydock, severely injuring his leg and requiring the reconstruction of his knee. His recovery process was long and was complicated by blood clots. Sergeant Rigney decided during his convalescence to become a writer. He began writing historical works under Reagan O'Neal before writing Western novels as Jackson O'Reilly. Sergeant Ja...
Read more