...was Johnny Lincoln Clem, who began as a "Drummer Boy" at age nine. By age 10 he received a battlefield promotion to Sargeant (today E5). After the war was over, he was given an Honorable Discharge at age 14 and then went on to complete High School.

Soon afterwards, he rejoined the US Army as a 2nd LT, and went on from there to retire at 65 as a Brigadier General. The following year he was again promoted to Major General on the retired list.

I knew nothing about this unique story until this morning, when I fell into yet another "rabbit hole" of YouTube! Nonetheless, it is a fascinating tale, so I thought I'd inflict share it with everyone. 🤔

 

 

EXTRA: This is a Walt Disney movie of Johnny Clem's first enlistment story. This movie is not in Disney's Vault, nor Disney+ at all. Fortunately, it is available on YouTube!

 

Go Moochie! 😀

While not as young and at a later time Smedley Butler enlisted in the Marine Corps and later rose to the rank of general.  

Interesting character.  He fought in numerous wars including WW1.  Twice awarded the Medal of Honor and wrote an anti-war book titled 'War is a Racket'.  He claimed to have been approached by the business leaders of the day to lead a coup against FDR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

Noel

 

 

Good story, though I guess technically his civil war service wasn't in the US Army, rather the 22d Mich US Volunteers.

scott s.

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1 hour ago, scott967 said:

Good story, though I guess technically his civil war service wasn't in the US Army, rather the 22d Mich US Volunteers.

Okay, you are correct, although it truly appears to be a case of splitting hairs. 

Quote

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

United States Volunteers also known as U.S. Volunteers, U.S. Volunteer Army, or other variations of these, were military volunteers called upon during wartime to assist the United States Army but who were separate from both the Regular Army and the militia.

Prior to the enactment of the Militia Act of 1903, the land forces of the United States were divided into three separate and distinctive organizations.

• The Regular Army, which was the permanent military establishment of the United States in peace and war.
• The Militia of the several states and territories when called into the service of the United States.
• Such volunteer forces that the Congress of the United States authorized to be organized for a limited time period as an adjunct to the Regular Army in time of emergencies.^[1]