R.I.P. Jack Lucas - SOCNET

Hopeless Civilian · #1 5 June 2008, 15:10

Just read the sad news. AP is reporting that Medal Of Honor recipient Jack Lucas passed away overnight at Forest General in Hattiesburg. He died surounded by family and friends including his wife. RIP Mr. Lucas and thank you for your service and example. God bless you and your family.

If I hear any more details including funeral arrangements I'll be sure to pass them along.

Red Flag 1 · #2 5 June 2008, 15:19

Rest In Peace Jack Lucas!

CDRODA396 · #3 5 June 2008, 15:31

Rest In Peace Sir! And Thank You for Your Self-less Service way back when, truly one of the Greatest Generation's Finest.

heavyguns1/1 · #4 5 June 2008, 16:00

RIP, Semper Fi Marine.

Grunt · #5 5 June 2008, 16:38

I am saddened to hear of Mr. Lucas’s passing. The Old Breed grows less with each passing year. God Bless Marine.

Red Flag 1 · #6 5 June 2008, 18:54

Jack Lucas had well deserved great coverage on NBC news this evening.

Hopeless Civilian · #7 5 June 2008, 18:56

Services are being handled by Moore Funeral Services in Hattiesburg Ms. There is an on-line guest book at their web site.

http://moorefuneralservices.com/index.html

I won't be able to attend the services Monday but I am considering attending visitation Sunday night. Anyone in the area who might be thinking of attending please let me know.

dustyrebel · #8 5 June 2008, 19:26

RIP.

Forestboy · #9 6 June 2008, 11:35

RIP...

Quote:

Originally Posted by New York Times Obit

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Jack Lucas, who at 14 lied his way into the military to serve in World War II and became the youngest marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor, died Thursday in Hattiesburg, Miss., where he made his home. He was 80.

Mr. Lucas had been hospitalized with leukemia and died after asking doctors to remove a dialysis machine, said his wife, Ruby.

Jacklyn Lucas, known as Jack, was just six days past his 17th birthday when, in February 1945, his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the medal. He used his body to shield three members of his squad from two grenades and was nearly killed when one exploded.

“A couple of grenades rolled into the trench,” Mr. Lucas said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before he received the medal from President Harry S. Truman in October 1945. “I hollered to my pals to get out and did a Superman dive at the grenades.”

But “I wasn’t a Superman after I got hit,” he added, recalling the scream he let out “when that thing went off.”

Mr. Lucas was left with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel in his body and had 26 operations in the following months. He was discharged as a private first class.

The youngest member of the military to receive the Medal of Honor in any conflict other than the Civil War, he became a symbol of patriotism in the ensuing decades, meeting presidents and traveling the world to speak with frontline troops and fellow veterans.

Mr. Lucas, born in Plymouth, N.C., on Feb. 14, 1928, was a 13-year-old cadet captain in a military academy when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Big for his age and eager to serve, he forged his mother’s signature on an enlistment waiver that would have allowed him to join the Marines at 17 rather than the usual 18. But in fact he was by then only 14, though the military did not learn of that until censors discovered it through a letter he had written to his 15-year-old girlfriend.

“They had him driving a truck in Hawaii because his age was discovered, and they threatened to send him home,” said D. K. Drum, who wrote Mr. Lucas’s story with him in the 2006 book “Indestructible.”

Mr. Lucas eventually stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in the Pacific. He turned himself in aboard ship to avoid being listed as a deserter, and volunteered to fight.

The officers aboard “did not know his age,” Ms. Drum said. “He didn’t give it up, and they didn’t ask.”

After the war, Mr. Lucas earned a business degree from High Point University in North Carolina and raised, processed and sold beef in the Washington area. In the 1960s, he rejoined the military, becoming an Army paratrooper to conquer his fear of heights, Ms. Drum said.

On a training jump, both of his parachutes failed, she said, and Mr. Lucas later said his stocky build and a last-second roll as he hit the ground had saved his life.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Lucas is survived by four sons, a daughter, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

RB · #10 7 June 2008, 13:54

RIP Mr. Lucas and thank you for your service and your sacrifce.

cromagking · #11 7 June 2008, 15:29

RIP

tova · #12 7 June 2008, 17:06

RIP, Godspeed, PBS....

Gypsy · #13 7 June 2008, 22:42

RIP, Mr. Lucas...you most certainly deserve to do so.

Hopeless Civilian · #14 8 June 2008, 06:28

Gov. Haley Barbour has declared that flags in the State of Mississippi will be flown at half-staff Monday in honor of Mr. Lucas.

ReconB2 · #15 9 June 2008, 21:57

Quote:

Gov. Haley Barbour has declared that flags in the State of Mississippi will be flown at half-staff Monday in honor of Mr. Lucas.

Well deserved. Semper Fi Marine.
B2

Hopeless Civilian · #16 10 June 2008, 22:48

I wanted to post a few links about Mr. Lucas's funeral on Monday.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...=2008806100362

Article on the local papers website.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...6090802&Ref=PH

Photo Gallery from the funeral.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...VIDEO/80609024

Fellow Medal Of Honor Recipient talks about Jack Lucas

O'DubhGhaill · #17 13 June 2008, 14:25

E-mailed and telephoned his hospital room the day before he passed. Spoke with a woman there, didn't ask who she was, but conveyed my sentiments and wishes for a speedy recovery, even though I knew he was in his final days...rest in peace Marine, my son will know your story! Semper Fi!