The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 30: The Demoted Deserter

Episode Date: August 16, 2016

War is hell, but the paperwork is intolerable.

The ocean delights us as playful otters restore coastal kelp forests. The ocean teaches us how our choices impact even the deepest places. The ocean connects us. Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium.org slash connects. This is the way I heard it. The young marine standing before the ship's commander was a liar and a forger. Happily, the commander didn't know that. On the downside, this marine was also a deserter and a stowaway, both of which the commander

understood all too well. Now let me get this straight, son. You left your unit in Hawaii a month ago, just walked off the base without a word to anybody. Yes, sir. What's your full name? Private First Class Jack Lucas. Wrong, the commander snapped.

You're not a PFC anymore. Your commanding officer busted you back to private right before he put a bounty on your head. You're a deserter, son. A demoted deserter. And you are in a world of truce. trouble. The young man looked straight ahead as the commander took a final drag off his cigarette and stubbed it out. And now you're telling me that you've stowed away on my ship because you want to

fight on Iwojima? Yes, sir. And why in the hell would you want to do that? Former private, first class Jack Lucas shifted his gaze to meet his commanders and held it as he spoke. I didn't join the Marines to push paper in a supply depot, sir. I've been riding a desk for three years. Let them punish me if that's what they've got to do. But let me fight first. The commander could have sent this demoted deserter straight to the brig and then back to the states for a trial,

a dishonorable discharge, and some mandatory prison time. But he knew that Charlie Company would need all the help they could get on Iwojima. And whatever else he was, the Marine stands. standing before him, didn't seem like a coward. We landed five days, said the commander. You want to fight? I'll take you to a fight. Dismissed. Five days later, the expeditionary force was on the island, making their way inland, where the enemy was hunkered down in a vast warren of tunnels and reinforced bunkers.

Jack and three other riflemen were picking their way down a steep ravine when 11 Japanese soldiers popped up from a nearby trench and opened fire, sending the Marines diving for cover. Eleven against four. Their odds were horrible, but the Marines fought with everything they had. And soon, it was ten against four, and then nine against four, and then eight against four. But then two hand grenades arced through the air and landed in the soft volcanic ash, just a few yards from Jack, and right in the midst of his fellow Marines. Jack didn't hesitate. He dove over the men and onto the first grenade, smothering it under his body.

The second grenade he grabbed with his free hand and held it tightly to his chest, shielding the rifleman as best he could. A moment later, the first explosion lifted Jack off the ground, sending bits of flesh and uniform flying into the air. The second explosion never happened. then the Japanese soldiers charged and the remaining three Marines killed them all in a furious hail of machine gun fire. Jack was left for dead, which by all appearances he clearly was. But of course, appearances can be deceiving.

In fact, it was Jack's appearance that got him in the Corps in the first place. You see, when Jack enlisted three and a half years earlier, he appeared, to be the perfect recruit, 180 pounds of solid muscle with a burning desire to avenge the outrage of Pearl Harbor. He was only 17 at the time, a year below the minimum age,

but his mother had signed the mandatory enlistment waiver. So the Marines took him. Only problem was Jack had forged his mom's signature, and when the truth came out, he was given the choice of either going back home or riding

a desk for the next four years. Maybe as he lay there in a pool of his own blood, faced down in the mud 7,000 miles from home. Jack reconsidered the cost of his various insubordinations. Maybe, but I doubt it, because there was something else about Jack's resolve worth noting. You see, Jack's mom had refused to sign that enlistment waiver because she knew the truth about her son.

she knew that Jack was not 17 when he enlisted, nor was he 16, nor was he 15. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Jack Lucas was a 13-year-old boy, a boy who decided right then and there to fight for his country. That's why he forged his mother's name, that's why he lied to his superiors, deserted his post, and stowed away on a transport ship, That's why, at 14 years of age, he became the youngest Marine to ever wear the uniform. That's why, when he finally turned 17, Jack Lucas became the youngest Marine since the Civil War to receive the Medal of Honor. And that's also why, on his 80th birthday, Jack Lucas looked back on his illustrious career in a way that few survivors can

as the only member of the United States Armed Forces to ever be recognized for bravery and valor above and beyond the call of duty while fighting as a demoted deserter. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more.

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