BIW - Jack Lummus

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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

Jack Lummus

Date and Place of Birth: October 22, 1915 Ennis, Texas
Date and Place of Death: March 9, 1945 Iwo Jima
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Outfield
Rank: First Lieutenant
Military Unit: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Division, USMC
Area Served: Pacific

Jack Lummus was an outstanding athlete who played both professional football and baseball. He is one of only two professional baseball players to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Andrew J "Jack" Lummus was born on a cotton farm in Ennis, Texas on October 22, 1915. He attended Ennis High School where he excelled in football and track, earning all-district honors. Lummus graduated from high school in 1934 and accepted a two-year sports scholarship to Texas Military College, where he earned all-conference honors in football. At age 21, Lummus enrolled at Baylor University again earning honors in football but also in baseball. He was a superb defensive center fielder and signed a professional contract with the Wichita Falls Spudders of the West Texas-New Mexico League after graduating from Baylor. During the winter of 1941, Lummus also signed with football's New York Giants.

On January 30, 1942, he joined the Marine Corps and took basic training in San Diego. At the end of the year he was appointed a second lieutenant and spent 1943 at Camp Elliott in San Diego and Camp Pendleton at Oceanside, California.

With the 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, Lummus left the mainland in August 1944 bound for Camp Tarawa in the Hawaiian Islands. "Our baseball league ended last week," he wrote home on November 23. "My team took top honors, winning in a breeze with only one loss."

On February 19, 1945, First Lieutenant Jack Lummus was in the first wave that hit the beaches at Iwo Jima - a tiny island the Japanese had turned into a maze of underground tunnels and defensive bunkers. Lummus led 3rd platoon through rugged, hostile terrain towards Kitano Point on the northernmost tip of the island. On March 8, Lummus led an assault on three concealed Japanese pillboxes. Single handedly and despite being wounded by exploding hand grenades, Lummus knocked out all three pillboxes before stepping on a landmine. Lummus was mortally wounded but still encouraged his troops to continue the advance before being stretchered to an aid station then transferred to 5th Division Field hospital. The 29-year-old Marine Corps hero's life came to an end on the operating table the following day.

Jack Lummus was buried at the 5th Division cemetery at the base of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. At a ceremony at his hometown of Ennis on May 30, 1946, Mrs Lummus received the Medal of Honor on her son's behalf.

In December 1945, before a Giants-Eagles football game, a plaque was unveiled at the Polo Grounds in New York in memory of Jack Lummus.

Jack Lummus' body was returned to Ennis in April 1948 and now rests at the Myrtle Cemetery. In December 1986, the Jack Lummus Memorial Park was opened in front of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce. In 2002, he was inducted in the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.

Jack's name lives on today after a US navy vessel was named in his honor. The USNS 1st Lt Jack Lummus carries a full range of Marine Corps cargo, enough cargo to support a Marine Air Ground Task Force for 30 days.

Jack Lummus Memorial Park USNS 1st Lt Jack Lummus

All the above information is courtesy of Pete Wright at jacklummus.com

Added August 13, 2006. Updated September 18, 2006.

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