Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Francis August Young was the son of Christopher and Mary Young and had been born at Bendigo, Victoria. He enlisted and served as ‘Francis Young’. His father was deceased and his mother passed away only a couple of months before he enlisted during January 1915. He was residing in Richmond, Victoria and worked as a galvanizer before the war.

He had three brothers who also enlisted in the AIF and two were killed in action. An older brother, 1425 Pte. Thomas Young 14th Battalion AIF was killed in Bapaume on 29 March 1917, 1917, aged 31. A younger brother, 6912 Pte. Clarence Victor Young 21st Battalion AIF, was later killed in action in Belgium, on 22 March 1918, at 19 years of age.

Known as ‘Frank’ he was a professional boxer, and was better known as the Australian 'Nat Williams.' Nat Williams was a famous English in the prewar period. Frank Young was said by the local newspaper to “having gained considerable notoriety as a pugilist through having been returned the winner of many encounters against professional 'knights of the ring,' in and around the metropolis of Melbourne.”

As a member of the 8th Battalion Frank was on duty at Steele's Post, Gallipoli , when a fragment of a Turkish shell struck him on the right thigh, shattering the hip joint. He was evacuated shortly after and on recovering from the wounds, which were of a most serious nature, he was declared unfit for further active service and returned to Australia to be discharged. He returned home to Richmond, quite lame and was awarded a pension. He was a single man. with a promising career as a professional boxer, but the wounds which he received prevented his entering the prize ring with the same success as formerly.

Another brother, George Philip Young, was returned to Australia during 1918 by the General Officer Commanding AIF, General Birdwood, for ‘family reasons’, probably due to the fact he had two brothers killed and one badly wounded.