Who was the youngest modern age commissioned officer?

Great topic since I always wonder how close to the youngest officer I was.

Born April 2 68
Commissioned Ensign USN - May 8 1988
20 years 1 month and 6 days - however my day of rank was May 28 - day of the USNA commissioned
I cut the navy birthday cake three years in a rows during my 4 years at ROTC
 
George William Pickard is scheduled to graduate from Texas A&M's Texas Maritime Academy and be commissioned in August 2018.
He will be an 18 years old.
 
My father lied about his age and ran away from home two weeks before high school graduation in May of 1935 and joined the Army. 30 days into basic training for reasons still unknown he was sent to OTS. He this earned the nickname of 'The 30 Day Wonder Boy.' He became an officer before his 18th birthday. As far as the Army was concerned he was 18. There are scattered references to wonder boys in those years. I'm still investigating. Between 1935 and 1941 of 1942 he was busted in rank all the way to private. I have copies of the following records. Jan. 1943 promoted from 2nd Lt to 1st Lt. July 1943 promoted from 1st Lt to Captain. He was then deployed to New Guinea. (Part of the 24th Infantry Division) From there the campaign to retake the Philipean Islands where he convelesed for a time from hepatitus B and possib!y malaria. At this time he had again been reduced in rank. This time to 2nd Lt. Between them and the end of the war he had again made Captain. Deployed with the 24th to The Occupation of Japan where he was joined by his family, his wife and two daughters. One little girl died before her 1st birthday in 1943 without ever setting eyes on her father on this earth. Mercy. His unit was at this time merged with the 24th Infantry Regiment out of Georgia. At the outbreak of the Korean War (you did not care use the word Conflict around Captain Kutzer!) the 24th were among the first responders and thus deployed post haste to Korea. As history shows, they were bloodied terribly, suffering over 10,000 casualties over the first 18 months. He was found after one right unconscious in a foxhole. No one alive for over 100 yards. Artillery rounds knocked him out. Not a serious sound on him. After this the 24th were taken out of the war and when it was over redeployed to Germany. He was promoted to Major when he received his orders. Unfortunately his brilliant and curious Army career came to an end after his first night in Germany as he suffered a stroke caused by a cancerous brain tumor. Two years later he was honorably discharged with a full disability. Half paralized for his remaining 18 years of life. Those years are yet another story. A love story actually.
 
Col David Hackworth. Merchant Marine at 14 1945 then Korea as sergeant and battlefield commission then Vietnam. Retired as Colonel and I always loved his commentary.
 
Laura said:
I was curious about this myself as my son graduated the Army ROTC program and commissioned as a 2nd LT at the age of 19 years 9 months in 2011. (He began dual enrollment at the age of 15 and was a college junior at 17.) He was promoted to Captain this past May at the age of 23 years 9 months. Needless to say, I'm very proud of him!
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Well deserving to be proud of him. I am very proud of my daughter too. She was commissioned to 2nd Lt USAF at age 20yrs and 7 months old. This year at 24 yrs and 7 months old, promoted to Captain with an MD.
 
Good thread - really old, too! I've always been curious about this myself. I commissioned as Army 2LT through Early Commissioning Program via VFMC in May 2003, age 19yr, 7mo, 25d. I've always assumed I was one of, if not the youngest, in service at the time.
 
I saw that Luigi59 cited Vietnam Vet / Distinguished Service Cross / 7x Purple Heart recipient Capt. David Christian (Ret) as one of the youngest commissioned officers. His story is pretty amazing. As a teenager growing up in 1980's Pennsylvania I met him a couple times and was awed. I remember like it was yesterday when Mr. Christian yelled at me for a neighborhood water fight that got a little out of hand -- he focused his attention on me like a laser and I was frozen in my tracks! It seems an odd thing to remember a very minor event so vividly -- but that was the impression this hero made on me.
 
Re Above: No one wears that many full size medals on dress uniform. Especially multiple purple hearts. Enlisted 1966 and medical discharge three years later as Captain for severe napalm burns? Don't know when he had time for OCS. Just asking.
 
At the bottom of the DSC citation, you can click the arrows to read his two Silver Star citations. “In little more than one month time, from September 23 to October 29, 1968, David Christian earned the Distinguished Service Cross and TWO Silver Stars.” Sounds like a Viking berserker.
 
Although he died before the WW2 cutoff of this ancient thread, it is worth mentioning Smedley Darlington Butler. At the age of 16, less than two months before graduation, Butler dropped out of a Philadelphia Main Line prep school, lied about his age, and received a direct commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

Butler was one of a small number to receive two Medals of Honor in his career (one of which he tried to return, claiming he hadn't deserved it) and might have earned more but for a then-applicable rule prohibiting commissioned officers from receiving the MoH.

His remarkable career spanned the period of America's rise as an international power, and he fought in engagements around the world, particularly among the relics of the former Spanish empire.
 
AF6872 said:
Re Above: No one wears that many full size medals on dress uniform. Especially multiple purple hearts. Enlisted 1966 and medical discharge three years later as Captain for severe napalm burns? Don't know when he had time for OCS. Just asking.
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Some time ago, I think when he ran for office, a big "dustup" occurred about that picture. If my memory serves, he did that for a friend that asked for a picture with everything so he did it. It was meant to be a private thing, not public. Oh well...

Steve
 
Umm...it may be my own daughter. She will graduate from college with a bachelor's degree at 17 years and 3 months old. She will take off six months to travel or be a visiting scholar overseas but back in time to legally join the US Space Force Commissioned Office Candidate exactly on her 18th. We've got three and half years to go...so excited. Go US Space Force!!!
 
Hanna said:
Well deserving to be proud of him. I am very proud of my daughter too. She was commissioned to 2nd Lt USAF at age 20yrs and 7 months old. This year at 24 yrs and 7 months old, promoted to Captain with an MD.
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I was in the Army in the Vietnam Era. At that time you could go to OCS when you were 18 and a high school graduate and the school was 6 months long. I’m not sure how frequently it happened, I had a friend that did it, but it was certainly possible to be commissioned while one was still 18 years old. My friend, of course, went straight to Vietnam as did most of the Infantry OCS graduates back then. I was later stationed in Korea and read in the Stars and Stripes that my friend had been killed in Vietnam. 19 years old.
 
Luigi59 said:
David A. Christian was a 2/LT at age 19 (Vietnam)

Dave Hackworth enlisted at 15 and won a battlefield promotion to Captain at the age of 20. (Korea)

Dan Inouye also received a battlefield commission to Captain at the age of 20. (WWII)

George HW Bush was a LTJG at 19, youngest pilot in WWII.

But no one can beat Union Army PVT Joseph Burger, who won the MoH at age 15 and was immediately given a battlefield commisison to Captain (1863).
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During the Civil War George Armstrong Custer was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in June, 1863 at the age of 23. By the end of the war in 1865 he had been promoted to Major General. After the war he reverted back to the rank of Captain and then rose through the ranks to his final rank of Lt. Col. at the the time of his demise.
 
AF6872 said:
Re Above: No one wears that many full size medals on dress uniform. Especially multiple purple hearts. Enlisted 1966 and medical discharge three years later as Captain for severe napalm burns? Don't know when he had time for OCS. Just asking.
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As I recall from an article some time in the past, that was a book "publicity photo shoot" and he was told to wear all that.
 
Seven (7) enemy marksmanship medals is a lot to have, and still be around for a photo shoot. That's probably why he's smiling. ;)
 
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