He was twelve years old when he shaved for the first time, not because he needed to, but because he needed the Navy to believe he was seventeen.
This is the story of the youngest American to go to war in World War II: a boy who forged a signature, walked into a recruiting office, and ended up manning a gun aboard a battleship in one of the most brutal naval battles of the Pacific. He was wounded in combat. He was decorated for bravery. And when the truth about his age came out, his own country turned on him.
In this video we cover:
– How a 12-year-old slipped past Navy recruiters in 1942
– Life aboard the USS South Dakota as a child among grown men
– The night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, and the shrapnel that nearly killed him
– Why the military stripped him of his medals and his honorable discharge
– The decades-long fight to get his name and his honors back
History doesn’t always reward the brave. Sometimes it forgets them on purpose.
🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more forgotten stories from World War II
#WorldWarII #WWIIHistory #MilitaryHistory #WW2 #ForgottenHistory #TrueStory #Documentary
source
