Calvin Graham: Combat Veteran at Age Twelve tells the unbelievable but true story of the youngest known combat veteran of World War II. With falsified documents signed by his mother and clothes borrowed from his older brother, Calvin Leon Graham enlisted in the United States Navy in August 1942. Assigned to USS South Dakota (BB 57), he served during two battles in the South Pacific in late 1942. He spent his thirteenth birthday in the naval brig in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was then sent home to Houston with an invalidated enlistment and no military benefits. That experience was later described in the movie Too Young the Hero.
He would spend the remainder of his life struggling to receive an honorable discharge, back pay, medals, medical assistance, and acknowledgment of his youthful combat service. Over the years, his efforts were aided by Senators Lloyd Bentsen and John Tower of Texas, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Congressman Jim Wright of Texas, and other congressional leaders. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed Private Law 100-44 to grant him medical benefits. Admiral Mike Boorda, the most famous underage veteran, was Chief of Naval Operations when Graham was posthumously awarded his final medal in 1994.
Book is autographed by author Diane Diekman.
For information on wholesale orders, contact info@southdakotabattleship.org.
Calvin Graham: Combat Veteran at Age Twelve tells the unbelievable but true story of the youngest known combat veteran of World War II. With falsified documents signed by his mother and clothes borrowed from his older brother, Calvin Leon Graham enlisted in the United States Navy in August 1942. Assigned to USS South Dakota (BB 57), he served during two battles in the South Pacific in late 1942. He spent his thirteenth birthday in the naval brig in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was then sent home to Houston with an invalidated enlistment and no military benefits. That experience was later described in the movie Too Young the Hero.
He would spend the remainder of his life struggling to receive an honorable discharge, back pay, medals, medical assistance, and acknowledgment of his youthful combat service. Over the years, his efforts were aided by Senators Lloyd Bentsen and John Tower of Texas, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Congressman Jim Wright of Texas, and other congressional leaders. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed Private Law 100-44 to grant him medical benefits. Admiral Mike Boorda, the most famous underage veteran, was Chief of Naval Operations when Graham was posthumously awarded his final medal in 1994.
Book is autographed by author Diane Diekman.
For information on wholesale orders, contact info@southdakotabattleship.org.
