Dead Ohio soldier cited for Medal of Honor
Pvt. Young
Fort Knox, Kentucky (UP) –
The Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of the nation’s Armed Forces, will be presented here today in a posthumous award to Pvt. Rodger W. Young, 25-year-old Clyde, Ohio, infantryman, whose heroism on New Guinea saved an entire platoon from annihilation.
The hero’s mother, Mrs. Nicholas E. Young Sr. of Clyde, will receive the award from Maj. Gen. Charles L. Scott, commanding general of the Armored Command. Pvt. Young’s father and a brother, Reinhard, will also attend the ceremonies.
In announcing the award, the War Department said Pvt. Young, a member of the 37th Infantry Division, ignored orders to retreat and continued to advance on a concealed Jap machine-gun nest in the face of a withering fire.
Although wounded, he kept up a steady one-man offensive with grenades and rifle fire, inflicting many casualties before falling himself, the department said.