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America’s Youngest Warriors – Children Who Fought for the US

Khalid Elhassan April 4, 2025 17 min

Children - US Army Sergeant John Lincoln Clem — US Army Sergeant John Lincoln Clem. Metropolitan Museum of Art

5. A Child’s Heroics Amidst Battle

After completing Navy boot camp in San Diego, Calvin Graham was sent to Pearl Harbor. There, in September, 1942, he was assigned to the recently commissioned battleship USS South Dakota, whose crew he joined as a loader for a 40mm antiaircraft gun. The following month, he served the guns during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, for which the South Dakota and her crew received a Navy commendation. During the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of November 14-15, 1942, the South Dakota came under fire from at least three Japanese ships, was struck 26 times, and suffered significant damage. Calvin was hit by shrapnel, but ignored it to participate in rescue operations and help pull more seriously injured comrades to safety. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his conduct that day, and a Purple Heart for his wounds in action.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.