jeremiah walsh World War II Navy veteran, serving in the Pacific aboard the USS Auburn.

Although he had tried to return to his ship, he was discharged from the Navy on April 1, 1943, and his awards were revoked. He was released after his sister threatened to contact the newspapers. 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. 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. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart, and he and his crewmates were awarded another Navy Unit Commendation.

Though he received fragmentation wounds, he helped in rescue duty by aiding and pulling the wounded aboard ship to safety. 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. On the night of November 14–15, 1942, Graham was wounded during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The South Dakota and her crew received a Navy Unit Commendation for their service. On October 26, 1942, he saw action in the Battle of the Santa Cruz. He was deployed to the USS South Dakota, at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. He went through boot camp in San Diego, California for six weeks. Graham enlisted in the Navy on August 15, 1942. Graham was born in Canton, Texas, and was attending elementary school in Houston before he decided to join the Navy, after his father had died and his mother had remarried. Hill, who was granted significant media attention due to holding service number one million during World War II, but later was discovered to have lied about his age and subsequently discharged. 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.

serviceman to serve and fight during World War II and was one of the few known child soldiers to fight on behalf of the United States in the conflict. Calvin Leon Graham (Ap– November 6, 1992) was the youngest U.S.

Jeremiah walsh World War II Navy veteran, serving in the Pacific aboard the USS Auburn.