Memes, Army, and Civil War: AT THE AGE OF 12  AND ALREADY A  TWO YEAR VETERAN  OF THE CIVIL WAR,  JOHN CLEM  SHOT A  CONFEDERATE  COLONEL WHO HAD  DEMANDED HIS  SURRENDER DURING  A UNION RETREAT.  HE GAINED A  PROMOTION TO  SERGEANT AND IS  THE YOUNGEST NCo  IN THE HISTORY OF  THE US ARMY. HE  LATER BECAME THE  LAST CIVIL WAR  SOLDIER TO RETIRE  FROM THE ARMY,  IN 1915.  CRACKEDON Clem was discharged from the Army in 1864 at age 13, but sought to rejoin the military in 1870. Nominated to West Point by President Ulysses S. Grant, Clem failed the entrance exam several times before Grant appointed him a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Clem enjoyed a successful second military career, rising to the rank of colonel and assistant quartermaster general by 1906. He retired on the eve of U.S. entry into World War I with the rank of major general, the last Civil War veteran to actively serve in the U.S. Army. Clem died in 1937 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery  DV6
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