{"id":93343,"date":"2019-12-13T06:30:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=93343"},"modified":"2019-12-12T13:25:48","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T17:25:48","slug":"valor-friday-49","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=93343","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Roger Young<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poetrooper sends us today’s Valor Friday article, which details the heroic actions of Private Rodger Young, USA, on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

Rodger Young, soldier<\/h1>\n
By\u00a0Ruth King<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

In public school in the Bronx, after World War II, we\u00a0gathered in the schoolyard, recited the “Pledge of Allegiance,” and made way to the auditorium before classes.\u00a0\u00a0There we sang the National Anthem and other patriotic songs.\u00a0\u00a0Among them was one, “The Ballad of\u00a0\u00a0Rodger Young,” whose melody I found myself humming last week after so many decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who was Rodger Young, and who wrote the stirring music and lyrics?<\/span><\/p>\n

Young was born on April 28, 1918 in Ohio.\u00a0\u00a0Of small and thin stature, only 5 feet, 2 inches, he was athletic and competitive.\u00a0\u00a0During his first year in high school, in a trial game for the football team, he sustained an injury that left him unconscious and led to significant deafness and damage to his vision.\u00a0\u00a0His disabilities forced him to leave high school during his second year.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1938, at the age of 20, Young joined the Ohio National Guard, hoping to earn some money, convinced that his disabilities would foreclose the regular army.\u00a0\u00a0He was posted to Company “B” of the 148th\u00a0Infantry Regiment with the 37th\u00a0Infantry Division.\u00a0\u00a0He was a disciplined soldier with small arms skill, and when his unit was activated for federal service in 1940, he was promoted to sergeant and squad leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1942, after America entered the war, his regiment was deployed to Fiji and then to the Solomon Islands in preparation for combat on New Georgia.\u00a0\u00a0He requested a reduction in rank, fearing that his eye and ear deficits would create a risk for his squad.<\/span><\/p>\n

On July 31, 1943, near Munda on New Georgia, Young was part of a 20-man patrol that was sent out to track Japanese ordnance in enemy-occupied territory.\u00a0\u00a0Returning from this task, his group was ambushed and pinned down by heavy fire from Japanese machine guns.\u00a0\u00a0Four soldiers were killed, and Young was wounded.\u00a0\u00a0The commanding officer ordered withdrawal, but Young crawled toward the Japanese position, and, despite being wounded again, he attracted enemy fire.\u00a0\u00a0He threw hand grenades at the Japanese and was killed by return fire.\u00a0\u00a0His valor and determination enabled his platoon to withdraw with no further casualties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Young posthumously received the highest military commendation: the Medal of Honor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rodger Young represents thousands of other soldiers whose heroism is unsung.\u00a0\u00a0There were no safe spaces in the barracks or foxholes, and trigger warnings meant lethal danger.\u00a0\u00a0They are of grateful memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did “The Ballad of\u00a0Rodger Young” come to be?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In March 1945, a young private in the Army’s unit that produced recruiting songs was tasked with providing army songs.\u00a0\u00a0He had been expelled from high school and then from City College, having failed every subject except for English and gym, but he could write music and lyrics.\u00a0\u00a0In 1942, he wrote the rousing “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”<\/span><\/p>\n

He wrote the words and lyrics to “The Ballad of Rodger Young.”<\/span><\/p>\n

That was the brilliant and witty composer and lyricist of the musical\u00a0Guys and Dolls<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Frank Loesser, who also wrote the hits “How to Succeed in Business,”\u00a0“The Most Happy Fella,” and “Where’s Charley?”<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the first stanzas:<\/span><\/p>\n

On July 31st 1943 a bloody round in the battle for the Solomon Islands<\/em>
\nWas being fought in the tangled jungle of the island of New Georgia
\nThis is the story of one of the young men who fought and died there
\nThis song is respectfully dedicated to those heroic infantrymen
\nWho like Rodger Young have sacrificed their lives
\nThat their nation might remain forever free<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, they’ve got no time for glory in the infantry<\/em>
\nOh, they’ve got no time for praises loudly sung
\nBut in every soldier’s heart in all the infantry
\nShines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You can hear the\u00a0whole song here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division. Place and date: On New Georgia, Solomon Islands, 31 July 1943. Entered service at: Clyde, Ohio. Birth: Tiffin, Ohio. G.O. No.: 3, 6 January 1944. Citation: On 31 July 1943, the infantry company of which Pvt. Young was a member, was ordered to make a limited withdrawal from the battle line in order to adjust the battalion’s position for the night. At this time, Pvt. Young’s platoon was engaged with the enemy in a dense jungle where observation was very limited. The platoon suddenly was pinned down by intense fire from a Japanese machinegun concealed on higher ground only 75 yards away. The initial burst wounded Pvt. Young. As the platoon started to obey the order to withdraw, Pvt. Young called out that he could see the enemy emplacement, whereupon he started creeping toward it. Another burst from the machinegun wounded him the second time. Despite the wounds, he continued his heroic advance, attracting enemy fire and answering with rifle fire. When he was close enough to his objective, he began throwing handgrenades, and while doing so was hit again and killed. Pvt. Young’s bold action in closing with this Japanese pillbox and thus diverting its fire, permitted his platoon to disengage itself, without loss, and was responsible for several enemy casualties.<\/strong><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n

Hand Salute. Ready, Two!<\/p>\n

Read more: https:\/\/www.americanthinker.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/rodger_young_soldier.html#ixzz67ugSepv5<\/a>
\nFollow us:\u00a0@AmericanThinker on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0AmericanThinker on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poetrooper sends us today’s Valor Friday article, which details the heroic actions of Private Rodger Young, … Valor Friday<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,74,389],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-army","category-the-warrior-code","category-valor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93345,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93343\/revisions\/93345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}