The Ballad of Rodger Young

[Peter H]

Hear it hear,"one of the most memorable songs of WW2":

http://wegrokit.com/ryfla.htm

Young,killed at Munda,CMOH:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_of_Rodger_Young

The song was released in March 1945,composed by Frank Loesser,sung by Nelson Eddy.

"The Infantry loved the ballad enough to put together a public relations campaign to promote it..."

No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry.
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name--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.
Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen--
Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom--
Caught in ambush till this one of twenty riflemen
Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom.

Volunteered, Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting annals of the Infantry
Glows the last deed of Private Rodger Young.
It was he who drew the fire of the enemy
That a company of men might live to fight;
And before the deadly fire of the enemy
Stood the man, stood the man we hail tonight.

On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons,
Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell
That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons,
Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.

Sleeps a man, Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting spirit of the Infantry
Breathes the spirit of Private Rodger Young.
No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry,
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name--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.

[ChristopherPerrien]

One of the myriad reasons I like the great book "Starship Troopers" is Heinlien's nunanced inclusion of Roger Young, as the name of a troop transport ship.

Chris

[tatner]

A fellow who was the drill instructor for Roger Young was just profiled in our local newspaper, The Fremont (O) News Messenger on June 14 2010.

Jim McGrady at 92 still marches in all the local parades and still can wear his WWII army uniform. Jim has frequently talked of helping to do the initial training for Roger Young when he was in the Ohio National Guard.

"Name: J.H. (Jim) McGrady
Rank: Sergeant
Branch of service: Infantry-Field Artillery, Air Force
Length of service: 7 years
Age: 92
Hometown: Fremont, Ohio
McGrady enlisted when he was 17 in 1936, and served as a squad leader and drill instructor for a group of soldiers -- including Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Young -- that fought in the Pacific. McGrady served as an instructor in pilot school and was on a B-24 bomber crew." Source: Fremont News Messenger, June 14, 2010.


Roger Young is still remembered in this community of Fremont, Ohio with a park and monument named in his honor. He is also listed on a monument to 4 Medal of Honor winners at the local courthouse. Young's home town of Green Springs, Ohio is about 8 miles away and he is memorialized in that community as well. A true American hero.

Updated info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodger_Wilton_Young

[Sewer King]

One of the myriad reasons I like the great book "Starship Troopers" is Heinlien's nunanced inclusion of Roger Young, as the name of a troop transport ship.

You too? I might be late to this, but I think Heinlein could not have realized he introduced many of his readers to who Rodger Young was (in my case. 34 years ago).

• It is nuanced in the Starship Troopers novel itself, but a capsule history about Young is included at the end of the story. It is even more nuanced that the novel's hero Johnnie Rico is a Filipino --very unusual in science fiction of any time, let alone when Heinlein wrote it. (I am Filipino myself, and the novel was recommended to me back then by another Filipino, partly for this very reason.)
  
  The heroism of Rodger Young is also mentioned in Heinlein's short story The Long Watch, which is part of his "future history" anthology The Past Through Tomorrow.
  
  • The Long Watch is about a young ordnance lieutenant of space marines, an A-bomb weaponeer. He is confronted with a terrible choice during what should have been an ordinary duty watch. (If you haven't read it already, do not look it up on-line first because it is discussed only through spoilers.)

=================================

... Jim McGrady at 92 still marches in all the local parades and still can wear his WWII army uniform. Jim has frequently talked of helping to do the initial training for Roger Young when he was in the Ohio National Guard.

As a measure of how remarkable that is, it is as if Audie Murphy was spoken about today by one of his own officers who outlived him, but who had known him when he was a private.

-- Alan

[phylo_roadking]

One of the myriad reasons I like the great book "Starship Troopers" is Heinlien's nunanced inclusion of Roger Young, as the name of a troop transport ship.

...and of course the Ballad itself is the ship's recall signal...