The Navy has restored the Purple Heart it stripped from Calvin L. Graham after learning that he was only 12 when he served during World War II.
"I just wished that he had gotten this when he was alive," said his widow, Mary Graham. Graham died in November 1992 at 62.Graham enlisted in 1942 and was aboard the USS South Dakota in the Battle of Guadalcanal when he was seriously injured by shrap-nel.
He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and two other medals. But the Navy stripped him of those when it found he had lied about his age.
Graham, who in 1950 suffered a noncombat injury in the Marine Corps and was forced to use a wheelchair, spent more than 45 years fighting for disability benefits and the return of his military honors.
In 1978, the Navy finally granted him an honorable discharge and reinstated all medals but his Purple Heart. On Wednesday, Navy Secretary John Dalton returned that as well.
Graham's case became the basis for the 1988 CBS television movie "Too Young the Hero."