“Vaccine News You Can Use” for Family Physicians (Part 2) — Spring 2025
April 16, 2025April 23, 1945 — Phil promoted to captain and is perhaps the youngest documented Army captain in WWII
On April 23, Phil received the news his promotion had gone through—he was now a captain [and likely the youngest U.S. Army captain in WWII] after having served only a bit over two years—sixteen months as a 2nd lieutenant and eleven months as a 1st lieutenant. He was only twenty years [109 days] old and the average age of an Army captain during WWII was 27 years old.[1,2]
The news was delivered to him via his favorite nurse, Lieutenant Mary Lona Hicks, a Tennessee girl trained at Methodist Hospital in Memphis. They had long discussions about their hometown.
Phil wrote to his dad the next day:
Dearest Dad,
Hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long for a letter, but I haven’t felt like writing lately
I still don’t know when I’m leaving, but all I’m waiting on is a plane.
It will take about 36 hours to get to Mitchel Field.[3]
I’m still getting along very well, Dad. It has amazed me how little this losing of my foot has affected me.
The docs tell me that it is getting along very well, much better than expected, and that I have a very good stump and that it will take a new leg well. I’m all ready to get that new leg and try it out.
When I learn to use it, Dad, look out, cause I’m going to find out just how many sports I can do, and you are appointed the likely one to help me find out.
Hope you can read this as I am lying down. Love to everyone and hope to see you soon.
Your son, Phil[4]
~~~~~
[1] Larimore, At First Light, 268.
[2] Mark Wayne Clark (1 May 1896 – 17 April 1984) was a U.S. Army officer who fought in WW1, WWII, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army during WWII and during WWI was a company commander and served in France in 1918, as a 22-year-old captain. In my research, I could not find documentation of a younger Army captain in WWII than Phil Larimore. The youngest known U.S. Navy captain in WWII was Stephen Decatur, who became a captain at the age of 19. While an AI search lists the youngest documented U.S. Army captain in WWII as Lyle Joseph Bouck, Jr., who was promoted to captain during the war, Wikipedia documents Captain Bouck was born December 17, 1923 and was a 20-year-old lieutenant in charge of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944) turning age 21 the next day.
[3] Mitchel Field was an Army Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. The flight plan usually involved refueling stops in the Azores and Newfoundland.
[4] Larimore, Ibid, 268-269.
Learn more about my book about my father’s heroics and exploits at Amazon’s First Light page here. You can also read more of my WWII blogs here as well!
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