Seaman First Class (S1c) Robert Verdun Young, United States Navy. Service Number: 3166640

Early Life

Robert Verdun Young was born on 25 December 1917 in Bardolph, McDonough County, Illinois. His father Charles Wilford Young, born 31 December 1877 in Adams County, Ohio, died 18 November 1958 in (unknown, probably Illinois), was a Farmer. His mother Ethel Faye Ealy was born on 17 April 1890 in Marietta, Fulton County, Illinois and died on 9 February 1958 in (unknown, probably Illinois). Robert’s parents were married on 16 July 1906 in Palmyra, Marion County, Missouri. Robert was the fourth of nine children in the family; he had an older brother, two older sisters, two younger brothers and three younger sisters.

Military

Robert Verdun Young enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 17 July 1940 in Omaha, Nebraska. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to the Battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attack occurred. He reported aboard USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on 12 October 1940.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the 7 December 1941 attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being moored at berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row.” Just before 8 am, the Oklahoma was among the first of the ships struck in the attack. A torpedo struck on her port side and she capsized quickly. After the Arizona, she was the largest loss of life, at 429 sailors and marines. The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap and while under tow to California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.

Death and Burial

Robert Verdun Young was Declared Dead while Missing in Action or Lost at Sea on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located inside Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is also memorialized at the USS Oklahoma Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After his remains were identified, he was buried at the Bardolph Cemetery in Bardolph, McDonough County, Illinois, First Addition, Lot: 27.

On March 2, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman First Class Robert Verdun Young, missing from World War II.

Seaman First Class Young, who entered the U.S. Navy from Nebraska, served on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was aboard the ship during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship, they could not be identified following the incident. He was initially buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and eventual identification of SEA1 Young’s remains. Seaman First Class Young is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Sources

https://pearlharbor.org/history-uss-oklahoma/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor-raid/battleship-row-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack/uss-oklahoma-and-uss-maryland-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack.html

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/636576627/robert-young

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117905852/robert-verdun-young

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=83550

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xe0yEAC

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2375/images/40050_1521003240_0470-00811?usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru-2026033&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1396124

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2324/images/32456_1220705235_0010-00550?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.17253434.2086527151.1633910039-1128903496.1596401247&pId=135414

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author by clicking on this link:
https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=Profile&type=Person&ID=148728 (Mulvanny, Robert (Red) (SBTS Historian), CDR)

Young, Robert Verdun, S1c