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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

4. When the US Navy Refused to Release a Child Recruit

Calvin Graham in later years. Find a Grave

After the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the battered South Dakota sailed to New York City for repairs. While it was docked, Calvin Graham went AWOL to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Texas. That was when Calvin’s mother discovered where her twelve-year-old son had been. She told the Navy, but incredibly, rather than immediately discharge the child, naval authorities sent him to the brig as punishment for going AWOL. It was only after Calvin’s sister threatened to go public that the Navy released him, giving him a dishonorable discharge and confiscating his awards. It was not until 1977, after writing to Congress and with President Jimmy Carter’s approval, that Calvin’s awards were restored. Except for the Purple Heart, for some reason. His dishonorable discharge was also changed to honorable. In 1988, his story was told in a TV movie, Too Young the Hero, in which Calvin was played by Rick Schroeder.

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.