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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

16. The Youngest Person to Ever Earn the Medal of Honor

Per the president’s wishes, Willie Johnston was decorated with the Medal of Honor on September 16^th, 1863. Thus, at age thirteen, the young Vermonter became the second recipient to receive what became the nation’s highest award for valor. Willie also holds the distinction of being the youngest person ever awarded the nation’s most prestigious decoration – for exploits he had performed when was only eleven-years-old. At the end of his term of service, Willie reenlisted in February of 1864, and remained in uniform until his unit was mustered out in December, 1865. After the war, he worked as a machinist, married, and raised a family of five children. He lived to the ripe old age of 91, before he passed away on September 16^th, 1941 – the 78th anniversary of his September 16^th, 1863, Medal of Honor award.

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.