Days til WTD9 2011
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 35,982
Likes: 211
From: 262 miles N of the Dragon
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 35,982
Likes: 211
From: 262 miles N of the Dragon
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 35,982
Likes: 211
From: 262 miles N of the Dragon
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 35,982
Likes: 211
From: 262 miles N of the Dragon
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 35,982
Likes: 211
From: 262 miles N of the Dragon
Originally Posted by Popeye,Feb 16 2011, 06:47 AM
All this effort and you're only at 3ppd 
Its hard to make up for almost 10 years of not posting!
I've posted more than 4200 posts since 12/3/10 to help the PPD.... and thats all it has gone up!
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,614
Likes: 11
From: Northern VA
USS South Dakota (BB-57) was a battleship in the United States Navy from 1942 until 1947. The lead ship of her class, South Dakota was the third ship of the US Navy to be named in honor of the 40th state. During World War II, she first served in a fifteen-month tour in the Pacific theater, where she saw combat before returning to New York for an overhaul. Back on operational duties in May 1943, she joined British Home Fleet patrols in Scapa Flow before sailing to the Pacific in August 1943 for a second tour. There, she participated in combat operations preparatory to the invasion of Japan until her return to the United States in October 1945.
The ship carried the man who is believed to be the youngest serviceman to have fought in World War II, Calvin Graham. He participated in the Battles of Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal before he admitted his true age to Sargent Shriver, the gunnery officer; Graham spent three months in the brig, had his veteran's benefits taken away, and received a dishonorable discharge. He then returned to the seventh grade soon after celebrating his thirteenth birthday.