Calvin Graham from Houston Texas enrolled in the U S Navy right after Pearl Harbor and was accepted - aged 12 ..
.. Well the Japanese 'Pearl Harbor' attack itself is claimed to have been known in advance to multiple British & US Government figures - but repeated warnings of their vulnerability were ignored.
After boot camp in San Diego Calvin was assigned to the battleship USS South Dakota launched 1941 - and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart Medal for brave actions despite his wounds - received during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - plus two Naval Unit Commendations.
When the ship returned to U S for repairs Calvin went AWOL for his grandmother's funeral & was given three months in the brig ... but his mother told the USN his real age and he was discharged from the navy in April 1 1943.
Calvin Graham - worked as a welder in a factory instead of returning to school until he enrolled once more into the Marines aged 17 in 1948 but only three years later he fell from a pier in 1951 breaking his back.
The Military refused him full medical benefits due to his "illegal service" - indeed they cancelled all his medals and veteran status - However In 1988, he received disability benefits and back pay for his service in the Navy after President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that granted Graham full disability benefits, increased his back pay to $4917 and allowed him $18,000 for past medical bills, contingent on receipts for the medical services. By this time, some of the doctors who treated him had died and many medical bills were lost.
He received only $2,100 of the possible $18,000. While the money for the rights to his story for the movie, Too Young The Hero amounted to $50,000, - 50% went to two agents and 20% went to a writer of an unpublished book about Graham. He and his wife received just $15,000 before taxes.
An American Hero's story.
Marty K.
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