re: World War 2 soldiers who went on to be famous

Our Ask-Me-Anything friend claims to have fought in the Battle Of The Bulge at age 15. While googling "youngest US soldier in Battle of the Bulge" I stumbled on this guy:

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Calvin Leon Graham (April 3, 1930 – November 6, 1992) was the youngest U.S. serviceman to serve and fight during World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Navy from Houston, Texas on August 15, 1942, at the age of 12.

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He enlisted in the Navy on August 15, 1942, and was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California, for six weeks, and afterwards he was sent to Pearl Harbor at Oahu, Hawaii, where he was assigned to USS South Dakota.

The South Dakota left Pearl Harbor on October 16. On October 26, 1942, he participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz. The South Dakota and her crew received a Navy Unit Commendation for the action. On the night of November 14–15, 1942, Graham was wounded during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He served as a loader for a 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and was hit by shrapnel while taking a hand message to an officer. Though he received fragmentation wounds, he helped in rescue duty by aiding and pulling the wounded aboard ship to safety. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart, and he and his crewmates were awarded another Navy Unit Commendation.

The South Dakota returned to the East Coast on December 18, 1942, for an overhaul and battle damage repairs (she had taken 42 hits from at least three enemy ships) in New York City, and since then, was named "Battleship X" in order to make the Japanese think she had been sunk. Graham's mother revealed his age after he traveled to his grandmother's funeral in Texas (he arrived a day late) without permission from the Navy, for which he spent three months in a Texas brig. He was released after his sister threatened to contact the newspapers. Although he had tried to return to his ship, he was discharged from the Navy on April 1, 1943, and his awards were revoked.

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Why? What does going AWOL have to do w/his actions in battle?

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In 1978, he was finally given an honorable discharge for his service in the Navy, and after writing to Congress and with the approval of President Jimmy Carter, all medals except his Purple Heart were reinstated. His story came to public attention in 1988, when his story was told in the TV movie, Too Young the Hero starring Rick Schroder.

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 $4,917 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.

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Graham's Purple Heart was finally reinstated, and presented to his widow, Mary, on June 21, 1994, by Secretary of the Navy John Dalton in Arlington, Texas, nearly two years after his death from heart failure. He was buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

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daniel inouye ... how did i forget this one

Inouye fought in World War II as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. He lost his right arm to a grenade wound and received several military decorations, including the Medal of Honor

Larry Storch (TV show F troop) served on the submarine tender Proteus and was on the Proteus in Tokyo Bay Sept. 2, 1945, and witnessed Japan’s formal surrender onboard the nearby battleship Missouri. Storch was a comedian before the war working the Catskills. While on board Proteus he became friends with a radio operator named Bernie Schwartz. Schwartz talked of becoming a famous actor after the war, something Storch discouraged because of how tough it was in the entertainment business.

After the war Bernie Schwartz changed his name to Tony Curtis and did pretty good in the entertainment business himself.

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His family wants his papers and personal effects returned so they can donate them to a museum, but LSU won't return them.

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The rumor is LSU can't return them because they don't know where the papers, etc are. They can't find them.

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Ted Williams was a double war hero, no doubt, but he wasn't happy about it. He was very upset when they drafted him for Korea and interrupted his career. PBS has a biography on him, mostly on baseball of course.

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Dad knew Ted Williams through their mutual service in the Marines. The Marines formed a baseball team (I believe after WWII) and Dad, who was a decent ball player, showed up to play.

"They put me in the outfield. Ted hit the ball towards me, so high that I could not see it or find it. I knew the Marine team's players were way out of my league." THere were some other pros on the team.

Auburn head coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan.

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Long before Jordan became a legendary Auburn football coach (1951-1975), he trained and led men onto the shores of Normandy on D-Day, coming home with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Jordan’s military commission, earned from Auburn’s ROTC program in 1932, was reactivated after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He entered the Army as an officer in the United States Army Corp of Engineers where he participated in four invasions during World War II. Wounded by shrapnel at Normandy, Jordan was back in action for the Okinawa landings and for the planning of the invasion of Japan- later believing that the bombs and the end of the war saved his life.

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