Editing Mike Mansfield (section)

==Military service==
Wanting to join the war effort during [[World War I]],<ref name=Younggren2023/> the 14 year old Mansfield forged his father's signature in order to enlist in the [[US Navy]].<ref>Mansfield interview with Obefdorfer (1998), p. 7</ref><ref name=senate>{{cite news|work=[[United States Senate]]|title=Senate Leaders: Mike Mansfield, Quiet Leadership in Troubled Times |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/People_Leaders_Mansfield.htm}}</ref> He went on several overseas convoys on the {{USS|Minneapolis|C-13|6}}, but was discharged by the Navy after his real age was discovered.<ref name=senate /> (He was the last known veteran of the war to die before he reached the age of 100 and the last World War I veteran to sit in the US Senate.) After his Navy discharge, he enlisted in the [[US Army]], serving as a [[private (rank)|private]] from 1919 to 1920.<ref name=congress>{{cite news|work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]|title=MANSFIELD, Michael Joseph (Mike), (1903–2001)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000113}}</ref>

Mansfield was a [[Private First Class]] in the [[US Marine Corps]] from 1920 to 1922.<ref name=congress /> He served in the Western Recruiting Division at San Francisco until January 1921, when he was transferred to the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound, Washington. The following month, he was detached to the Guard Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California. In April, he boarded the ''USAT Sherman'', bound for the [[Philippines]]. After a brief stopover at the Marine Barracks at [[Cavite]], he arrived at his duty station on May 5, 1921, the Marine Barracks, Naval Station, Olongapo, Philippine Islands. One year later, Mansfield was assigned to Company A, Marine Battery, Asiatic Fleet. A short tour of duty with the Asiatic Fleet took him along the coast of China before he returned to Olongapo in late May 1922.<ref name=senate /> His service with the Marines established a lifelong interest in Asia.

That August, Mansfield returned to Cavite in preparation for his return to the United States and eventual discharge. On November 9, 1922, Private Mansfield was released from the Marine Corps on the completion of his enlistment. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, his character being described as "excellent" during his two years as a Marine.<ref name=WhosWho-Bio>{{cite web|accessdate=February 22, 2025 |url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/People/Whos-Who-in-Marine-Corps-History/Mackie-Ozbourn/The-Honorable-Michael-J-Mansfield/ |title=The Honorable Michael J Mansfield, USMC (deceased)|work=Who's Who in Marine Corps History
|publisher=Marine Corps History Division, [[Marine Corps University]]|location=[[Quantico, Virginia]]}}</ref>