WWII Brigadier General Engineer D-Day Silver Star Group Cap Notebook Books Lot

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WWII Brigadier General Engineer D-Day Silver Star Group Cap Notebook Books Lot:
$799.99

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Group to Brigadier General Mason J. Young, the WWII VII Corps Chief Engineer who became a BG immediately after WWII...he earned a Silver Star as a Colonel on Utah Beach on D-Day, and was a member of the USMA class of 1915 (The Class the stars fell on).

Chocolate General Officer piped garrison cap with sterling pin back star, one star vehicle plate and envelope, some manuals he owned, and one he wrote, cold weather gloves, guidon cover, and a copy of Eisenhower\'s Crusade in Europe as it has a story about then Col. Young. There is alto a tyvek type bag used to store his GO Flag, map of an inside out map of Germany. The highlight of the group, in my opinion, ishis well used pocket notebook with notes from 1944-45. Most of it is short hand scribble and notes he jotted down, but he dated some of the pages such as June 17, he notes meeting with Generals Ridgway and a phone call from General Taylor, and on October 2 details about Holland just after Market Garden. Lots of names and contacts in the book, it is almost completely full of wartime combat info! A nice group to a true combat Engineer that made things happen in the ETO!

His biography:

Mason James Youngwas born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on 9 February 1894, the son of Frederick Augustus Young and Emma Dodge Boyd. He grew up in the family home in Londonderry, built by his great grandfather in 1802, which was later his home in retirement. He graduated from Pinkerton Academy, Derry, New Hampshire, in 1911 and was the class valedictorian. His English teacher at Pinkerton was Robert Frost, the noted poet. Robert Frost\'s criteria in judging a written composition was “unity, emphasis and cohesion.” Dad passed this on to his children, and to his last days he judged any paper put before him by this standard.Entering the Military Academy in 1911, Mason graduated in 1915. He always spoke warmly, and with deep admiration, of his two most famous classmates, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Omar N. Bradley. Graduating high in his class he chose the Corps of Engineers. At West Point he was captain of the broadsword (sabre) team.In 1916 Mason married Mary Wheeler Vest of Washington, D.C. She died in 1949 and he is buried beside her.By 1918 he was first a battalion commander and then the commander of the 604th Engineers, a non-divisional regiment with the American Expeditionary Force in France. At this time he was the youngest major in the American Army since the Civil War. It should be remembered that only a few years before officers were retiring as majors after long and distinguished careers.As an engineer officer, between World War I and World War II, Major Young had many assignments in river and harbor work. He supervised the construction of many civil works of enduring importance. In 1936 and 1937 as District Engineer for the Providence (Rhode Island) District he planned and supervised the comprehensive flood control program for the Connecticut River, involving four New England states in a cooperative effort. In fact, in 1949, when he was Division Engineer for the South Atlantic Division, with headquarters in Atlanta, he had had more river and harbor duty than any other officer of the Corps of Engineers at that time.In World War II Mason was the engineer officer for VII Corps throughout the war, from the English Channel to the Elbe River, with corps engineers varying from 6,000 to 11,000 men. He received the Silver Star for heroism during the landing on Utah Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Landing early on D-Day he supervised the clearing of beach obstacles and preparation of roads inland. When the advance command post of the 4th Infantry Division came ashore he reported to the Division Commander, Major General Raymond A. Barton, and briefed him on the engineer situation and the availability of roads inland. The command post and the beach area were being shelled by German artillery at the time and Colonel Young led the command post group to a “safe” location, an area which his engineers had cleared and marked in the middle of a mine field (which the German artillery did not fire upon). The citation ends: “Colonel Young\'s conduct materially contributed to the success of the operation. The courage, coolness and complete disregard of personal safety displayed by this officer reflects the highest credit upon himself and the armed forces of the United States.”Colonel Young is mentioned in Eisenhower\'s book, Crusade in Europe, for placing a bridge across the Rhine River in 10 hours and 11 minutes, a record for which the VII Corps commander, Lieutenant General J. Lawton Collins, rewarded the engineer soldiers with captured beer (not champagne as in the Eisenhower book). The men posted a sign on the bridge, “The Beer Bridge—short cut to the C.B.I.” C.B.I. stood for the China-Burma-India Theatre. (See General Collins’ bookLightning Joe).For his wartime service Colonel Young was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. After the war he was promoted to brigadier general, established and was the first commander (1949-52) of the Communication Zone across France set up to supply the forces in Germany. He retired in 1953.After retirement he worked from 1955-1961 in the Boston engineering firm of Faye, Spofford and Thordike, supervising airfield construction in Goose Bay, Labrador, and later engineering projects throughout northEastern United States.Throughout his entire life, Mason lived by the Academy’s motto “Duty, Honor, Country” as faithfully as any man I know. He lived his last eight years with his son, Colonel Mason J. Young, Jr., (USMA 1944) in Newport News, Virginia, with summer visits to his home in Londonderry. He saw his grandson, Mason J. Young, III, graduate from the Academy in 1970. He attended all class reunions for as long as he could, and was one of six classmates present at General Bradley’s funeral in the National Cathedral in 1981. To the end of his days he was surrounded by a loving family, and received yearly many warm messages from the officers and enlisted men he commanded in the VII Corps during World War II. In addition to Colonel Young he is survived by a son, William B. Young, a Foreign Service Officer in Washington, DC; two daughters, Agatha Ann Maloit of Hazelhurst, Georgia and Priscilla Y. Shinkle of Alexandria, Virginia; ten grandchildren and ten-great-grandchildren, including Mason James Young, IV born in 1981.