Calvin Leon Graham (1930 – 1992) joined the US Navy at age twelve in World War II. Not only had he managed to enlist at such a young age, he was decorated for heroism in combat. More astonishing yet is that even after the Navy found about his age, it refused to discharge him. Instead, it kept him in the brig. Graham was only released after his kin threatened to raise a huge fuss. Below are some fascinating facts about Calvin Graham, America’s youngest WWII serviceman.
A Twelve-Year-Old Joins the US Navy in WWII
Calvin Graham’s father died when he was quite young. His mother remarried, and Calvin ended up living with an abusive stepfather in Houston. He moved out at age eleven with an older brother, and made ends meet by delivering newspapers and telegrams on the weekends and outside school hours. A year later, in 1942, he told his mother he was going to visit relatives. Instead, he went to a recruiting office. There, he lied about his age, and enlisted in the US Navy at age twelve. After he completed boot camp, Calvin was sent to Pearl Harbor. There, he was assigned to the recently commissioned battleship USS South Dakota, and joined its crew in September, 1942 as an antiaircraft gun loader.
The following month, Calvin served the antiaircraft guns during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, for which the South Dakota and her crew received a Navy Commendation. On the night of November 14-15, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the South Dakota came under fire from at least three enemy warships. The American battleship was struck 26 times, and sustained significant damage. As seen below, Calvin’s conduct during the battle and in its aftermath earned him a medal, and made him the Second World War’s youngest American to receive such honors..
Even After it Discovered that It Had a Twelve-Year-Old Enlistee, the US Navy Refused to Discharge Calvin Graham
Calvin was injured by shrapnel at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He ignored his wounds in order to participate in rescue operations and help pull more seriously wounded crewmates to safety. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his conduct that day, and a Purple Heart for his wounds in action. The damaged South Dakota limped to New York City for repairs, and while it was docked, Calvin went AWOL to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Texas. That was when his mother discovered where her child had been all that time. She told the authorities, but incredibly, rather than immediately discharge him, the Navy sent the twelve-year-old old to the brig as punishment for going AWOL. There, he was abused by guards, and molested by other inmates.
It was only after Calvin’s his sister threatened to go public that the Navy grudgingly let the child go. However, in an act of bureaucratic petty retaliation, the US Navy gave him a dishonorable discharge, and confiscated his awards. It took writing to Congress, and securing the approval of President Jimmy Carter, before Calvin’s dishonorable discharge was changed to honorable in 1977. His awards were also restored to him, with the exception of the Purple Heart for some reason. In 1988, his story was told in a TV movie, Too Young a Hero, in which Calvin was played by Rick Schroeder. He was WWII’s youngest American serviceman, as well as the war’s youngest recipient of decorations for heroism.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
History Halls – Gustav Albert Schurmann’s Fascinating Civil War Career
Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau – Calvin Graham, the Youngest Recruit
