RAPID CITY - The Veterans of Underage Military Service is an unlikely band of brothers. They didn't serve in the same unit or on the same ship, or even in the same war.

"The only thing we've got in common is that we're all liars," member John Rutledge said with a chuckle.

They all lied about their age to get into the military.

The organization, which will hold its reunion in Rapid City next spring, has about 1,330 members. Membership is not limited to World War II and Korea. However, younger members are hard to come by.

With computerized recordkeeping, it became more difficult for underage teenagers to lie their way into the military. Today, it is probably impossible.

"Back in those days, the services wanted people, and they were kind of willing to look the other way a little bit," he said.

Bernie Doyle of San Antonio, Texas, the group's vice commander, said the median age of the members is 78.

The oldest member, Frank Buckles of Charles Town, W.Va., is 106 years old. He joined the Army at age 16 in 1917. He is one of only a handful of World War I veterans still alive. The youngest member joined the military in the early 1970s.

Most members are from the World War II era, a time when patriotism was high and military recruiters were often willing to ignore the obvious youth of their enlistees.

Doyle, 77, forged his high school diploma at age 16 in order to join the Navy. He did a three-year stint, got his real diploma and went on to professions as both a dentist and a doctor.

He told the story of Calvin Graham, who joined the Navy at age 12 during World II. During his dental exam, the dentist saw that Graham still had baby teeth and sent him back up the line. But Graham somehow managed to loiter in the entryway and sneak back through.

Graham ended up as a gunner on the USS South Dakota in the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. He was still 12 years old. He was severely wounded, and the battleship was hit 47 times.

The next year, his age was discovered. The Navy gave him a dishonorable discharge and took away his medals, including the Bronze Star. Not until 1988 did Graham get his military benefits restored. He died in 1992 at age 62.

One of the organization's missions, Rutledge said, is to advocate on behalf of the underage vets to ensure they get treated fairly by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Ray Jackson of Tempe, Ariz., who joined the Marines at age 16, is the author of "American's Youngest Warriors," a three-volume book that profiles the underage veterans.

He said there is no way to know exactly how many underage veterans there are. "We can only guess, because no records were kept," he said.

Jackson said he has researched biographies of 1,000 veterans of the First Marine Division and found that about 3 percent were underage when they joined. Based on that, he guesses that between 200,000 and 300,000 World War II and Korean War soldiers were underage when they joined the military.

Theodore Webb Jr. was one of the vets he profiled. Webb joined the Navy at age 13. In his profile, Webb wrote:

"I was not yet 13, but my friend and I were large for our age. At the Navy recruiting station, I told them that my birth date was 8 August 1926, instead of the true date of 8 August 1930. I wasn't required to show a birth certificate, but I had to have the signature of a parent to confirm that my age was 17. I took the papers and signed my name, but I put 'Sr.' after it instead of 'Jr.' I was sworn into the Navy on 23 August 1943, two weeks after my 13th birthday."

Their reasons for joining include a sense of patriotism and a desire for adventure, Jackson said. But in a number of cases, it was poverty or problems at home that led them to the military.

Rutledge, who now lives in Moline, Ill., had just turned 16 when he joined the Army in 1947. He went on to a 20-year Army career. He retired as a Sergeant Major.

"My home life wasn't that good; we just moved from one place to another," he said. "There were a lot of kids who were not happy at home. … I keep telling people I never had a shirt and pants that matched until I went into the Army."

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com