PFC Daniel Wilson Young

courtesy of Frogman

PFC Daniel Wilson Young was born 8 Aug 1918 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. He was the youngest of the 7 children of Oswold (sic) Edwin and Bertie Miller (Lewis) Young. His father farmed his own land along Youngs Road in the county and later he also worked as a mail carrier. Daniel grew up in this rural community less than 2 miles west of Petersburg, with his paternal uncles on the neighboring farms. The area is now heavily developed. In 1940 Daniel worked for an uncle at Young's Gas Station on Halifax Street in Petersburg, just a 30 minute walk from the family home. He had only completed 1-year of high school.

Daniel was drafted in May 1941. According to the policy at the time he was likely sent to Fort George Meade, Maryland from Richmond, Virginia and assigned to A Company 116th Infantry to replace former National Guard soldiers who had been reassigned to other duties. He then trained with the unit at Fort Meade, in the Carolina Maneuvers near Fort Bragg, North Carolina and at Camp Blanding, Florida before he was sent to England aboard the Queen Mary in September 1942. Once in England the emphasis was again on training and then training in preparation for the amphibious assault that would take place on the beaches of Normandy in the effort to liberate France from Nazi occupation. PFC Young took part in that effort and was killed in action on 6 Jun 1944. 

PFC Young rests forever in the Normandy American Cemetery.