Jack Lummus

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it; and some stories, friends, the marker barely has to try. Jack Lummus came into this world on October 22, 1915, on a farm right here in Ellis County. He went to school at Alma and then Ennis, and somewhere along the way he got good enough at sports that Baylor University handed him an athletics scholarship.

From there, the boy went and played minor league baseball in Texas and football for the New York Giants. An Ellis County farm kid, playing for New York. Let that sit a moment.

Then 1942 came, and Jack Lummus joined the United States Marines. Now fast-forward to February 19, 1945. The Fifth Marine Division is hitting the beach at Iwo Jima.

First wave of assault troops. Not the second wave, not a support role; the first wave. Lummus is in it.

For what comes next, you need to understand what two days and nights of fighting without respite does to a man. And then you need to understand that on March 8, after all of that, Jack Lummus led his rifle platoon forward anyway, toward a complex of pillboxes held by Japanese forces. They were halted.

Stopped cold. Two grenades went off near Lummus. He was injured.

And he kept going. Single-handedly, he destroyed three enemy emplacements. Three.

Injured, under fire, one man. Then he stepped on a land mine. The wounds were fatal.

Jack Lummus died that day, March 8, 1945. He was twenty-nine years old. Congress awarded him the Medal of Honor.

The citation's words are worth sayin' out loud: "conspicuous gallantry and tenacious perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds." If you want to see his face, the library on this site keeps an exhibit (photos of Jack Lummus, a copy of that Medal of Honor citation, and other records). Worth the stop. An Ellis County farm.

The New York Giants. The first wave at Iwo Jima. Some lives don't move in a straight line so much as they build, quietly and then all at once, toward a single, defining moment.

Jack Lummus had his moment. He met it the only way he apparently knew how: head on, and alone if he had to be.

What the marker says

(October 22, 1915 - March 8, 1945) Born on an Ellis County farm, Jack Lummus attended school at Alma and Ennis, and Baylor University on an athletics scholarship. He played minor league baseball in Texas and football for the New York Giants. He joined the U. S. Marines in 1942 and on February 19, 1945, landed with the Fifth Marine Division in the first wave of assault troops on Iwo Jima. On March 8, after fighting without respite for two days and nights, Lummus and his rifle platoon slowly advanced toward a complex of pillboxes before being halted by Japanese forces. Despite injuries from two grenade explosions, Lummus single-handedly destroyed three enemy emplacements before stepping on a land mine, sustaining fatal wounds. His congressional Medal of Honor celebrates his "conspicuous gallantry and tenacious perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds." (1999) Supplemental plate: An exhibit with photos of Jack Lummus, a copy of the citation for his Medal of Honor and other records are available in the library on this site.