What in your mind is an act of heroism? For some it may just be an act of kindness, or donating a large portion of money to charity. Some might even classify rescuing a cat from a tree as heroism, but for Jacklyn H. Lucas it's much more. Jacklyn was willing to sacrifice his life to save his comrades. His bravery saved three lives and helped encourage his unit to defeat the Japanese. Jacklyn H. Lucas was born on Valentine's Day, 1928. He grew up in a small town in North Carolina with a small population. Jacklyn didn't like his name and preferred to be called Jack. He trained so that he can be intimidating enough so no one would ever call him Jacklyn. He took it personally when Japanese fighter-bombers had just destroyed the American battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor. He then enlisted, at the age of 14 after lying about his age, as a…show more content… Jack was then assigned to the Marine Barracks at Naval Air Station. Then he was transferred to the 21st Replacement Battalion at Marine Corps Air Station New River. One month later he went to the 25th Replacement Battalion. Then after he completed schooling at Camp Lejeune, and was qualified as a heavy machine gun crewman, He was next sent to San Diego with his unit. Jack then joined the 6th Base Depot of the V Amphibious Corps at Pearl Harbor. In 1944 he was promoted to private first class.
The army realized he was only 15 years old after reading some of his letters to his girlfriend. He was removed from his combat unit. Then he was assigned to truck driving. he was so angry that he got into so many fights that he was ultimately courtmartialed and spent 5 months breaking rocks. After he was released he still wanted to see combat. Jack left his post and stowed away on the USS Deuel. He was then demoted to private. He eventually turned himself in, and at the age of 17 he was fighting on the island of Iwo
