# He joined the Army underage and then got drafted.



## Lawrence (Sep 16, 2022)

The other day I was in a hospital waiting room with my black Vietnam War 101 Airborne hat on when a fellow vet walked up to me and started talking to me about his Vietnam experiences. He has a pretty good story about his joining the military underage then it was found he was underage, and he was released from the Army. Then time went on and he thought he would not be allowed in the military again. Then he turned 18 and was drafted into the Army infantry and was in the Vietnam War. I thought that was an interesting story for I had not heard that one before. We both had a chuckle about that and started swapping funny but true Vietnam War stories.


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## Murrmurr (Sep 16, 2022)

My dad was under-age when he enlisted (WWll). When his base commander found out, he was going to order a discharge, but dad had just been deployed and was way out on the Pacific, so apparently everyone just pretended the information got lost somewhere along the line.


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## Pepper (Sep 16, 2022)

My husband joined the Canadian Army to fight in Korea when he was 15 years old.  He told them he was 19.  He thought if he said 18 they might not believe he was of age, so he went higher.  He was already 6 ft. tall.


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## Been There (Sep 17, 2022)

Murrmurr said:


> My dad was under-age when he enlisted (WWll). When his base commander found out, he was going to order a discharge, but dad had just been deployed and was way out on the Pacific, so apparently everyone just pretended the information got lost somewhere along the line.


There were many soldiers that were 17 that enlisted with their parents consent and were accepted into the military during WWII. Building ground forces was an all out very important task that needed to be fulfilled. We were fighting in so many different places that our ground forces were all over Europe and on the high seas.


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## Been There (Sep 17, 2022)

Pepper said:


> My husband joined the Canadian Army to fight in Korea when he was 15 years old.  He told them he was 19.  He thought if he said 18 they might not believe he was of age, so he went higher.  He was already 6 ft. tall.


The Canadians didn't ask for proof of age?


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## Pepper (Sep 17, 2022)

@Been There
You mean like a birth certificate?  I guess not.  They might have verified w/his parents, but my husband had called or written to his parents telling them not to disagree or they would never see him again.  That's all I remember.  It was in 1952 wartime, so maybe the Canadians were also desperate for soldiers.  I have pictures of him in Korea and he actually looked 19, maybe because of his height.

He was upset that a ceasefire was called almost immediately after he landed in Korea.  Being 15, he wanted to see 'action' so he was mad about the whole thing.


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## Been There (Sep 17, 2022)

*"He was upset that a ceasefire was called almost immediately after he landed in Korea. Being 15, he wanted to see 'action' so he was mad about the whole thing."*

You can thank Harry Truman for the ceasefire. Had Truman not fired MacArthur and was allowed to continue with his battle plan, the Korean War may have had a different ending, instead of a ceasefire. MacArthur's plan would have escalated the war, which is what Truman was attempting and succeeded to keep the war as short as possible. The ceasefire agreed upon by both sides really didn't achieve much, if anything.


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## squatting dog (Sep 17, 2022)

Pepper said:


> @Been There
> He was upset that a ceasefire was called almost immediately after he landed in Korea.  Being 15, he wanted to see 'action' so he was mad about the whole thing.


One can hope that later in life he'd be glad he didn't get to see the "action".  I say this as one who did get to see the action and it was nothing like I thought it would be.  
Even worse to deal with it 50+ years later. 
signed... damaged goods.


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## Alligatorob (Sep 17, 2022)

Been There said:


> The ceasefire agreed upon by both sides really didn't achieve much, if anything.


It may have averted a more global conflict, maybe even a nuclear one.  However it sure left North Korea in an awful place.


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## Lawrence (Sep 17, 2022)

I have an almost kind of like grandson in law who joined the army with his parents' permission many years ago when he was either 17 or 16.5. He said the policy at the time for him was that he attended schools and had training and did supportive duties until he turned 18 years old then in a way, he officially got duty assignments like others in the military.


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## Been There (Sep 18, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> It may have averted a more global conflict, maybe even a nuclear one.  However it sure left North Korea in an awful place.


My point was that the war is still going on today. From time to time, insurgents or small (cluster) cells will organize and fire shots across the border. Some North Koreans, mainly old school Koreans believe that Korea should be one country, or as they called it a unification with one leader. When I visited Incheon and Seoul, South Korea, I was able to speak with many of the South Korean Army (known as ROK) soldiers. Some of them told us of the fighting that still happens from time to time. The one soldier told us that it is not unusual for firing to occur at the border when North Koreans will randomly fire shots over the fences. 

Here is a list of N Korean laws that if any of them are broken, not only is the perpetrator punished, but also his entire family, including the grandparents. N. Korean Laws


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