Falling on a Grenade

I am from Wilson, a small town in eastern North Carolina.  In days gone by, that part of the state was the tobacco capital of the United States.  About seventy miles to the east lies another small town, Plymouth, which is located on the Roanoke River.  It's most recent population is about four thousand souls.  It was there that Jack Lucas was born in 1928, son of a tobacco farmer.

Jack was quite an athlete in junior high school, and was stout and muscular.  By the time he was fourteen years old, he stood about five feet, eight inches tall and weighed around one hundred eighty.  It was this impressive build that allowed him to fake his way into the Marines in 1942, claiming he was seventeen. He had a burning desire to see combat, and would allow nothing to stand in his way.  By 1944 he had worked his way over to Honolulu, and it was there that his deception fell apart when he wrote a letter to his girlfriend and disclosed his age.  Plans were made to ship him back to the States, but he stowed away on a ship headed to Iwo Jima.  He turned seventeen while at sea.

He joined a four man rifle team and headed into battle the day after landing on Iwo.  While in a ravine, the team came under fire, and  two grenades were tossed into their midst.  To save the lives of the others, Jack jumped on the first grenade and buried it under himself in the volcanic sand.  He then reached out and grabbed the other grenade and pulled it under him as well.  His body absorbed the explosion and saved the lives of his fellow Americans.

Falling on a grenade to save others in combat is almost always fatal.  It has been said that this specific act has resulted in more Medal of Honor citations than any other act of bravery.  And lest you think that this type of heroism is only something seen long ago, you should know that all four of the Medal of Honor recipients in the Iraq War received them posthumously, and two of these were for falling on grenades. 

Jesus tells us in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one other than this, that to lay down one's life for his friends."  The act of heroism of these men reminds us of Christ willingly sacrificing Himself to save us.  In the battle of God against Satan, Jesus knew of the lives that would be eternally saved by his death, but it somehow seems different.  Those courageous soldiers died trying to save their comrades; Jesus died for God's enemies.  "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)

I who sit here writing this and you who sit there reading this are doing so because many brave men before us died to make it safe for us to do so.  Even now, as your eyes track these words, men and women are putting themselves into great peril for us, and yes, some of them are dying.  Because of the clandestine nature of the work of some of them, you will never know of their sacrifice.  They die violently but quietly, and their passage will be unknown to you.   Few but the grieved widows and fatherless children will know the cost of our freedom to live as we please here in America. 

  Although Christ must receive our highest praise and honor, by His death giving us life everlasting, let us also give honor to those whose ultimate gift gives us liberty.  I implore you to go to your local movie theater to see "Act of Valor," currently playing.  It has active dury military members demonstrating to you what they are presently doing to keep you safe and comfortable.  Yes, it is rated "R" for violence and language, and that may dissuade some of you.  War is not fought peacefully and on polite terms.

 Jack Lucas was one of the few people to survive falling on a grenade. Only one of the grenades burst, the other being a dud. Near death, he underwent twenty-six operations and still had over two hundred pieces of shrapnel remain in his body. He was the youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Civil War. He passed away in June, 2008, at the age of eighty.