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The Tragic History of the U.S. Child Warriors

Khalid Elhassan June 9, 2020 34 min

32. The 14-Year-Old Marine

In 1953, Dan Bullock was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he lived until his mother died when Dan was twelve. So he and his younger sister moved to Brooklyn, to live with their father and stepmother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Dan’s top three picks were a cop, a pilot, or a United States Marine. He eventually decided to give the Marines a try. However, he did not want to wait until he grew up.

In September, 1968, fourteen-year-old Dan headed to a USMC recruitment center with a doctored birth certificate. His birth year was altered from 1953 to 1949, making him eighteen – old enough to enlist. Although just fourteen, Dan was big and strong for his age – 5 foot 9, and 160 pounds. He made it through boot camp in Parris Island and became a bonafide Marine. Unfortunately, his tale soon took a turn from cute to tragic.

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.