Calvin Leon Graham - 4/3/30 to 11/6/92

Goto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAt2TmFF2a4 to watch the movie about Calvin.

Calvin L. Graham was the youngest U.S. serviceman to serve and fight during WWII and was one of the few known child soldiers to fight on behalf of the United States in the conflict. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Houston, Texas on August 15, 1942, at the age of 12. His case was similar to that of Jack W. Hill, who was granted significant media attention due to holding service number one million during WWII but later was discovered to have lied about his age and subsequently discharged.

Graham was born in Canton, Texas, and was attending elementary school in Houston before he decided to join the Navy after his father died and his mother had remarried. He enlisted on August 15, 1942, went through boot camp for six weeks, and was subsequently deployed to the USS South Dakota at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

On October 26, 1942, he saw action in the Battle of the Santa Cruz. The South Dakota and her crew received a Navy Unit Commendation for their service. On November 15, Graham was wounded during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He served as a loader for a 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and was hit by shrapnel while taking a hand message to an officer. Though he received fragmentation wounds, he helped in rescue duty by aiding and pulling the wounded aboard ship and to safety. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart and he and his crew mates were awarded another Navy Unit Commendation.

The South Dakota returned to the East Coast on December 18, 1942, for an overhaul and battle damage repairs (she had taken 42 hits from at least three enemy ships). She was renamed "Battleship X" in order to make the Japanese think she had been sunk. Graham's mother revealed his age after he traveled to his grandmother's funeral in Texas without permission from the Navy, for which he spent three months in a Texas brig. He was released after his sister threatened to contact the newspapers. Although he tried to return to his ship, he was discharged from the Navy on April 1, 1943, and his awards were revoked. The South Dakota’s gunnery officer, who was involved in handling his case, was Sargent Shriver..

He then worked in a Houston shipyard as a welder after dropping out of school. At age 14 he married and became a father the following year. In 1948, at age 17, he was divorced when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. His enlistment in the Marines ended early when he fell from a pier and broke his back in 1951 during the Korean War. Although serving in the Marine Corps qualified him as a veteran, he would spend the rest of his life fighting for full medical benefits and clearing his military service record due to his young age.

In 1978, Graham was finally given an honorable discharge for his service in the Navy, and after writing to Congress, and with the approval of President Jimmy Carter, all medals except his Purple Heart were reinstated. His story came to public attention in 1988 when it was told in the TV movie, "Too Young the Hero" starring Rick Schroder. The film tells the true story of a 12-year-old boy who forges his mother's signature to join the United States Navy during World War II. He is assigned to the USS South Dakota and ends up fighting in the naval Battle of Guadalcanal. It is based on the real life of Calvin Graham, the youngest American serviceman of WW2.

In 1988, Graham received back payments when President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that granted him full disability benefits, increased his back pay to $4,917, and allowed him $18,000 for past medical bills, contingent on receipts for the medical services. By this time, some of the doctors who treated him had died and many medical bills were lost. He received only $2,100 of the possible $18,000. While the money for the rights to his story for the movie, “Too Young the Hero” amounted to $50,000, 50 percent went to two agents and 20 percent went to a writer of an unpublished book about Graham. He and his wife received just $15,000 before taxes.

Graham's Purple Heart was finally reinstated and presented to his widow Mary on June 21, 1994, nearly two years after his death from heart failure. He was buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas.