U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
World War II 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 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. The Japanese also opened fire and threw two grenades inside the Marines' trench in front of them. Lucas spotted the grenades on the ground in front of his comrades and yelled "grenades". He then jumped over a Marine and dove for them, jamming one of them into the volcanic ash and soft sand with his rifle and covering it with his body, while reaching out and pulling the other one beneath him. One grenade exploded, tossing Lucas onto his back and severely wounding him in the right arm and wrist, right leg and thigh, and chest. He was still conscious and barely alive after the blast, holding in his left hand the other grenade, which did not explode. His three comrades were unharmed, and the Japanese soldiers in their trench were all killed. The three Marines left, believing Lucas was dead. Lucas was found by Marines from another unit passing by, who called for Navy
corpsmen that attended to his wounds and protected him with a carbine from being shot and killed by a Japanese soldier in the trench. He was evacuated by stretcher bearers to the beach, onto an
LST to a cargo ship used as a hospital (all the hospital ships were full) and then to the hospital ship . He was treated at various field hospitals prior to his arrival in
San Francisco, California, on March 28, 1945. He eventually underwent 21 surgeries. For the rest of his life, there remained about 200 pieces of metal, some the size of .22 caliber bullets (0.55 cm), in his body, which frequently set off airport metal detectors. In August, the mark of attempted desertion was removed from his record while he was a patient at the U.S. Naval Hospital at
Charleston, South Carolina. On September 18, he was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve because of disability resulting from his wounds following his reappointment to the rank of private first class. On October 5, 1945, Lucas, three sailors and ten other Marines, including Robert Dunlap, his former company commanding officer on Iwo Jima, were presented the
Medal of Honor by President
Harry S. Truman during a ceremony on the
South Lawn of the
White House. Those in attendance at the ceremony included Lucas's mother and brother, Admiral
Chester Nimitz and
Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. ==Later life==