It is good to have a heart for service.  What is less predictable is how the world will react to one’s decision to dedicate your life to a higher cause.  In Catholic terms, families often react poorly to those who tell their loved ones that they are entering the priesthood or a religious order.  Such announcements are treated as a death sentence.  During World War II, somebody willing to make the same sacrifice was seen as a hero, even though there was a far greater likelihood that such a person could die.  Given the way those about to serve were treated at that time, you could understand why anyone would want to join the fight.  This is the subject of today’s film, Too Young the Hero (1988), a made-for-television movie about Calvin Graham (Ricky Schroder), a twelve-year-old boy who talked his way into the United States Navy (USN) in 1942.

Because Too Young the Hero is one of those non-linear plots, I will straighten out the story by beginning before 1942.  On December 7^th, 1941, the day the Japanese launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and brought America into World War II, Calvin and his friends, including his brother, Frank Graham (Christopher Yohe), are watching newsreel footage of the event.  They come out of the theater with exclamations of how brave they would be had they been on the Hawaiian naval base.  Though they are under the minimum age for enlistment, Calvin being only eleven at the time, they soon dare one another to make good on their bravado and join.  At the same time, they see some of their peers marching down the street with others who have signed up, which only fuels their desire to go to war.  However, Calvin and Frank do not have long before they see combat, but it is in their own home.  Upon returning from gathering scrap metal for the war effort, they walk into the living room where their belligerent step father has been beating their mother (Debra Mooney).  The boys intercede, managing to knock out the man.  In turn, their mother tells them to find someplace else to be for a while.  Initially, they are going to seek shelter with their older sister, Pearl Spencer (Mary-Louise Parker), but they decide not to burden the newlywed’s domestic bliss.  Instead, they rent a motel room, but you know it will only be a matter of time until they try the military.  Frank manages to do it first, leaving Calvin on his own for a time.  The main problem is that they need a notarized form signed by their parents in order to pass through the recruitment office.  As luck would have it, the manager and owner of the motel, Harry (Mert Hatfield), is a notary public.  Sneaking behind Harry’s back, Calvin stamps his form and that of another friend’s, with forgery taking care of the rest, and they are soon off to basic training for the USN.  Throughout the preparation process, Calvin almost lets on his age a few times, and many of the drill instructors look at him with suspicion.  Nonetheless, he makes it through and is sent to Pearl Harbor to join the crew of the battleship USS South Dakota.  After getting used to his new duty station, including a nearly disastrous shore leave that this Catholic will not describe further, they head into the Pacific.  The ship has reached the southern portion of the ocean in time to take part in the Battle of Guadalcanal.  Calvin is tasked with being the second loader for an anti-aircraft gun, and they acquit themselves well, downing more Japanese fighters than any other team.  In the aftermath, though, one of his commanding officers asks how old he is, and without thinking he says twelve.  He later tries to say that he misspoke, but it confirms what many had thought about him.  Word gets all the way to the skipper, Captain Thomas Gatch (Jon DeVries), who is in a quandary as to what to do with Calvin.  Being in a warzone, they cannot immediately send Calvin home.  Thus, he is allowed to keep serving, and is on board for another Japanese attack.  This one causes more destruction to the boat than the previous engagement, leading to him being wounded and several of his friends dying.  Because of the damage, they must return to the naval yards in Brooklyn, New York, for repairs.  Once there, Captain Gatch’s replacement issues Calvin a four-day pass to visit the grave of his grandmother, but informs the boy that he should not return.  Rather, Calvin should turn himself into the authorities back home.  Upon doing so, nobody can believe that he is twelve.  Yet, because the South Dakota had gone back to sea, the navy thinks he has deserted.  He is next given orders to travel to a base in California where he assumes he will be joining another ship.  Instead, he is arrested, imprisoned in the brig, and not allowed to communicate with the outside world.  Because of his presumed absent without leave (AWOL) status, he is treated poorly by guards and fellow inmates, especially on his thirteenth birthday.  Still, he is able to gain the sympathy of a cellmate, who eventually gets word to Pearl about Calvin’s status.  She comes immediately to the base where he is being held and requests to be able to see her thirteen-year-old brother.  When they deny that they would have such a person, she produces his birth certificate.  They are still going to deny her when she threatens to go to the newspaper.  This gets him out of jail, though he is told to lie to the reporters gathered outside and say he has been well-treated.  His retort is that he does not lie, and it becomes a sensation.

It is a little ironic that Calvin says that he does not lie at the end of Too Young the Hero since that is what he did in order to get into the navy.  In the introduction, I talked about how being dedicated to service is a good thing.  In this movie, we see some of its pitfalls.  I hope that any man or woman who says they want to enter religious life is not treated in this way.  It was a difficult aspect of the film to understand, and I wonder how much of it was dramatized.  At one point it is suggested to Calvin that he could be shot for desertion.  That is a tough proposition for anyone, never mind somebody who has yet to grow their wisdom teeth.  By the way, that lack of dental development almost gets Calvin kicked out of the USN during boot camp.  He avoids an ignominious discharge by switching his paperwork while the dentist is not looking.  However, again, Calvin deserves some credit for his dedication, especially since the military does not want to give it to him.  A postscript before the end credits mentions that he did not have his medals reinstated until 1978.  Further research shows that he was not monetarily compensated until ten years later, and still never received all the benefits owed him.  What makes this even worse is the fervor he displayed for his duty to the cause.  This Catholic would have wished he had directed it towards more spiritual matters.  Such selflessness is usually rewarded in the military, but as we are shown here, sometimes this does not happen.  God never lets us down on these matters for He sees all and knows all.  Selflessness means not seeking reward for whatever it is we do.  Despite this, God grants Heaven to those who behave as does Calvin.

I have no idea if Calvin made it to Heaven, which is debatable since he died four years after the release of Too Young the Hero.  It may be a cheesy hypothetical to ponder, but then again, so is this movie.  It shows its made-for-television quality often, and the acting is pretty bad.  I would not shy away from the film, but there are better options.