Existing comment:
1942-1944 The Campaign in New Guinea:
The early Pacific campaigns in the Philippines, the Bataan Peninsula and Guadalcanal were followed by the campaign in New Guinea, an island located south of Japan and to the north of Australia. By 1943 Allied forces were able to halt the Japanese attempt to take Port Moresby on the southeast edge of the island. Further action in 1944 helped pave the way for the combat operations in the Philippines and Okinawa.
A National Guard hero was made in July 1943, when the infantry company of which Rodger Young was a member who ordered to make a limited withdrawal from the battle line to reposition the battalion's location. At the time the order was given, Private Young's platoon was fighting the enemy in a dense jungle. As Young called out that he could see the enemy position and advanced towards it, he was hit by Japanese submachine gun fire. As he unleashed one last grenade Young was struck down and killed. His heroic dead inspired a song in his memory:
Ballad of Rodger Young
Oh, they've got no time for glory in the infantry,
They've got no use for praises loudly sun,
but in every soldier's heart in all the infantry
Shines the name of Rodger Young --
Rodger Young -- Fought and died for the men
he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the infantry --
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.
-- Song written by Frank Loesser |