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Photo by Cpl. Jennifer Brofer

Medal of Honor recipient welcomes new Marine into Corps

19 Aug 2005 | Cpl. Jennifer Brofer Marine Corps Training and Education Command

Private Ryan Draughn from Platoon 1066, Charlie Co., 1st Recruit Training Battalion, stands next to Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas in front of the Iwo Jima monument Aug. 19. Lucas, who became the youngest Marine Medal of Honor recipient at age 17 in 1945, came to visit Parris Island to welcome the new devil dog into the Corps.


It is not often that a brand-new devil dog gets to chat with a legendary Marine war hero. 
Private Ryan Draughn of Platoon 1066, Charlie Co., 1st Recruit Training Battalion, got to do just that. 

Just moments after receiving the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, Draughn came face-to-face with Jack H. Lucas, an Iwo Jima veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, who came to visit him the day he earned the title of "Marine" Aug. 18. 

"When I was first introduced to him, I didn't really know what the Medal of Honor was," said the 19-year-old Marine, who has known "Mr. Jack" for four years. "Until he told me what he did, that kind of opened my eyes to what the Medal of Honor was."

Born in Plymouth, N.C., Lucas became the youngest Marine recipient of the Medal of Honor on Oct. 5, 1945, at age 17, when President Harry S. Truman awarded him the nation's highest honor.

Large for his age, 14-year-old Lucas wanted to join the Marine Corps - having no problem convincing his recruiter that he was 17 - but his mother would not sign the enlistment papers, so he forged her signature and enlisted in 1942, according to his biography.

When his true age was revealed, Pfc. Lucas was allowed to remain in the Marine Corps, but was not allowed to go into combat. Determined to fight the enemy, he packed his sea bag and stowed away aboard a troop ship bound for Iwo Jima.

Six days after his 17th birthday, he encountered an enemy attack that nearly took his life.
When Lucas and three other Marines were ambushed by an enemy patrol, he "unhesitatingly hurled himself over his comrades upon one grenade and pulled the other under him, absorbing the whole blasting forces of the explosions in his own body in order to shield his companions from the concussion and murderous flying fragments," according to his Medal of Honor citation.

"After the battle for Iwo Jima, I was in the hospital for seven months," said Lucas, who received shrapnel wounds to his right hand, right arm, both shoulders, head, chest and right thigh. "[I had] over 200 holes in me. I still have eight pieces of shrapnel in my brain."


As the youngest service member to receive the Medal of Honor since the Civil War, Lucas said, "It feels fantastic to know I'm part of the legend of the Marine Corps. When I went to battle I didn't go there for any medal. I went there to kill the enemy of my country."

After being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 1945, Lucas finished high school and went on to receive his bachelor's degree. In 1961, he joined the Army Paratroopers and got out as a captain in 1965.

A friend of Draughn's family, Lucas said he came to Parris Island to welcome the new leatherneck into the Corps.

"I've known [Pvt. Draughn] for years," said Lucas. "I wanted to support him, and there's nothing like coming back to a Marine base to see my fellow Marines, my brothers."
Draughn said knowing Lucas partially inspired him to join the Marine Corps.
"He did inspire me [to join the Marine Corps], just hearing what he did, [because of] family tradition and I've always wanted to be a Marine, growing up in a Marine family," said Draughn, who plans to make a career out of the Marine Corps.

Coming from a family of Marines, Lucas had no doubt that the new Marine would be successful in the Corps.

"I knew he would be successful," he said. "He's from a family of Marines. His mother was a Marine, his father was a Marine and his sister is a Marine."

Having graduated from recruit training, Draughn is now, and will forever be, a part of what Lucas calls "the brotherhood."

"It's the greatest fraternity the world has ever known - it's a brotherhood," said Lucas. "Always remember the brotherhood or sisterhood of being a Marine. It doesn't matter where you are from, or who you are, you look out for one another. We have great legends to look up to and to live for. Great Marines have gone ahead of us, and great Marines will follow us."


Marine Corps Training and Education Command