WILTON RODGER YOUNG (b. Tiffin, 1918 - d. New Georgia, 1943)
Sometimes you find the Web characters of which are sure you have heard in somewhere, and yet is unable to locate lost in the maze of information coming through the monitor constantly. That's more or less what happened to me with Rodger Young. I was sure I had heard that name somewhere place and yet, it was an American soldier in World War II who probably would know in his hometown of Ohio and little else.
Rodger Wilton Young was born into a middle class family in Ohio who already had four offspring. Since its inception Young was a sickly child with heart problems but apparently with a strong will. Very fond of music, hunting and sports from childhood, managed to play despite its small size in the school basketball team. And playing the sport of basket had an accident in which he hit his head so badly that gradually began to lose hearing and vision, so had to leave school.
In 1939 he enlisted in the 148th Regiment Ohio National Guard more to have a fixed work because he liked the military life. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , the regiment became part of the 37 th Infantry Division Army of the United States and it seems that Young was not doing too bad, because in 1942 he was promoted to sergeant, becoming be, say, Sergeant's smallest army.
In February 1943 the 37 th Division was first sent to Fiji and then Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, which had been recently conquered by the Allies. Rodger Young on Guadalcanal served as a sergeant instructor in July until his unit was sent to the front on the island of New Georgia . Fearing
not live up to their growing problems of hearing and be the cause of death of one of his men in combat, Young asked to be demoted to private and continued with his unit even though doctors told him he was practically deaf and the best thing was that he was admitted to a hospital.
Shortly after Young's unit was involved in the fighting by the Munda airfield, the main objective in the island.
On July 31, 1943 his platoon advanced through the jungle when he was hit by fire from a machinegun nest located in an elevated position. In the first four men in the firing bursts were killed, and the remainder were in a precarious position at the mercy of fire Japanese. When the sergeant in charge ordered a retreat, they realized it would be very difficult to get out of that situation alive.
At that time the Young soldier began to crawl toward the Japanese machine gun nest despite the cries of his sergeant to return. After yelling that he heard nothing, dragged on for a few yards until he was hit by machine gun fire in the chest, yet they continued to try to approach the enemy now covered by fire from the rest of the pack. In a moment a second burst will shattered the left side of the body and made him drop the gun. His colleagues thought he was dead. However, shortly after standing could barely and throw a hand grenade at about the same time another burst finally ended his life. The grenade killed the machine gun nest, and the platoon returned to its base bearing the bodies of her five dead comrades.
For this action, Rodger Young was awarded the Medal of Honor Congress and indeed it seems that his quest is well known in the United States where, among other things, gave name to a park in Ohio, a residence veterans in California and a ballad who sings his heroism.
But the truth is that if the name of Rodger Young is universally known because it was chosen to denote the transport spacecraft traveling in the "space troops" from the novel by Robert Anson Heinlein . In fact it was by Rodger Young TFCT starship so the name sounded, not by his feat that will surely be very proud in his hometown of Ohio.
Sometimes you find the Web characters of which are sure you have heard in somewhere, and yet is unable to locate lost in the maze of information coming through the monitor constantly. That's more or less what happened to me with Rodger Young. I was sure I had heard that name somewhere place and yet, it was an American soldier in World War II who probably would know in his hometown of Ohio and little else.
Rodger Wilton Young was born into a middle class family in Ohio who already had four offspring. Since its inception Young was a sickly child with heart problems but apparently with a strong will. Very fond of music, hunting and sports from childhood, managed to play despite its small size in the school basketball team. And playing the sport of basket had an accident in which he hit his head so badly that gradually began to lose hearing and vision, so had to leave school.
In 1939 he enlisted in the 148th Regiment Ohio National Guard more to have a fixed work because he liked the military life. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , the regiment became part of the 37 th Infantry Division Army of the United States and it seems that Young was not doing too bad, because in 1942 he was promoted to sergeant, becoming be, say, Sergeant's smallest army.
In February 1943 the 37 th Division was first sent to Fiji and then Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, which had been recently conquered by the Allies. Rodger Young on Guadalcanal served as a sergeant instructor in July until his unit was sent to the front on the island of New Georgia . Fearing
not live up to their growing problems of hearing and be the cause of death of one of his men in combat, Young asked to be demoted to private and continued with his unit even though doctors told him he was practically deaf and the best thing was that he was admitted to a hospital.
Shortly after Young's unit was involved in the fighting by the Munda airfield, the main objective in the island.
On July 31, 1943 his platoon advanced through the jungle when he was hit by fire from a machinegun nest located in an elevated position. In the first four men in the firing bursts were killed, and the remainder were in a precarious position at the mercy of fire Japanese. When the sergeant in charge ordered a retreat, they realized it would be very difficult to get out of that situation alive.
At that time the Young soldier began to crawl toward the Japanese machine gun nest despite the cries of his sergeant to return. After yelling that he heard nothing, dragged on for a few yards until he was hit by machine gun fire in the chest, yet they continued to try to approach the enemy now covered by fire from the rest of the pack. In a moment a second burst will shattered the left side of the body and made him drop the gun. His colleagues thought he was dead. However, shortly after standing could barely and throw a hand grenade at about the same time another burst finally ended his life. The grenade killed the machine gun nest, and the platoon returned to its base bearing the bodies of her five dead comrades.
For this action, Rodger Young was awarded the Medal of Honor Congress and indeed it seems that his quest is well known in the United States where, among other things, gave name to a park in Ohio, a residence veterans in California and a ballad who sings his heroism.
But the truth is that if the name of Rodger Young is universally known because it was chosen to denote the transport spacecraft traveling in the "space troops" from the novel by Robert Anson Heinlein . In fact it was by Rodger Young TFCT starship so the name sounded, not by his feat that will surely be very proud in his hometown of Ohio.
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