Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Hay-Archer YOUNG, MC, (1919 – 1987)

Was born in Sydney 8th July 1919, to mother Isabel and Father Albert (refer separate folder titled: Albert George Young).

Jim grew up at his family’s Soldier Settlement home located in Matraville, at South-East suburb of Sydney.

Having done well at primary school, in 1932 Jim was selected to attend the Sydney Boys High which was then and remains, an academically selective high school conducted by the NSW Department of Education.

After completing High School, Jim joined the Commonwealth Bank and shortly afterwards, became a member of the Sydney Rowing Club which is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, having been formed in 1870, and has a focus on its high performance and elite rowing programs

Jim showed sufficient ability in the sport of rowing that he was quickly advanced to become a
member of the SRC’s racing eight. Had it not been for the outbreak of World War II, it is likely Jim would have gone on to represent Australia for following War, Australian Olympic rowing teams increased in size, with SRC rowers contributing significantly to representative squads.

In addition to his rowing activities, in 1938 Jim also joined the Australian Army Militia (reserve forces), becoming a Gunner in the Medium Artillery Brigade, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA).

Shortly after the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, Jim enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial
Forces (AIF) and was posted to the newly formed 2/9th Field Regiment (artillery).

initially assigned to the Australian 8th Division, the 2/9th was subsequently re-designated as part of the Australian 9th Division, and in 1940 deployed with the 9th Div. to the Middle East, where for the next two years, in support of both Australian & British forces, the 2/9th participated in various actions throughout Egypt, Palestine & Syria.

Re-designation to the 9th Div. proved most fortunate for the vast majority of the Australian 8th Div. was either killed or captured by Japanese forces during the disastrous Malaya campaign, that ended in the ignominious surrender of Singapore.

Following the unit’s return to Australia and period of re-training in preparation for jungle-warfare operations against the Japanese, the 2/9th saw service in New Guinea campaign.

In 1943 Jim met his future wife Deirdre (refer separate folder titled Deidre Noelle Young) whom he married in 1944 while on a period of leave back to Australia. It was also in 1943 that Jim received promotion, being commissioned as a Lieutenant.

As Jim later told his son (and which was years later confirmed by Jim’s older brother Howard), being an artillery man was a bit tame for Jim’s liking, and thus he made attempt (unsuccessfully) to be granted a transfer to the newly formed 1st Parachute Battalion.

Eventually in 1945, Jim’s persistence paid-off with at least partial success, becoming a Forward Observation Officer attached to the Australian 2/48th (Infantry) Battalion. FOO’s were “imbedded” with front-line units, to provide direct observation & correction of artillery fire that was supporting the infantry.

In May 1945, as part of the 2/48th Battalion, Jim participated in the Battle of Tarakan (Borneo).

Following the end of WW2 and being de-mobilized, Jim returned to working with the Commonwealth Bank.

In 1947 Jim was involved in an incident in central Sydney, wherein observing a NSW Police Constable at Wynyard Railway Station experiencing difficult effecting the arrest of an offender in the face of a hostile crowd, Jim immediately went to the Constables assistance, helping to restrain the offender, and accompany the Constable & offender to Philip Street Police Station. In recognition of these actions, Jim was awarded a certificate of appreciation & Police Friend badge from the NSW Police, such being a forerunner of later Police Commendation awards.

In 1948 Jim again enlisted in the Army Militia, this time with the 30th (NSW Scottish) Infantry Battalion, where he was made Officer Commanding the 3” Mortar Platoon.

1948 also saw the birth of Jim & Deirdre’s first child Felicity, who was to distinguish herself in service to the disable, and for such service, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

From shortly after the end of WW2, tensions between the Western democratic powers (led by the USA) and the Communist Soviet Union began to steadily increase.

1950 saw these tensions reach a critical point with the Soviet supported invasion of South Korea, by the Communist North Korean army.

Having seen the late 1930’s failure of the policy of appeasement (making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict) with Nazi Germany, the Western powers decided to actively support the South Korean government.

Believing, as many other people at the time did that the Korean conflict represented to beginning of WW3, in late 1950 Jim answered the Australian government call for volunteers to join K-Force, this being the deployment of the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (which at the time was part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces - Japan) to Korea, to comprise part of the United nations forces that were to assist with the defence of South Korea.

Jim served for a year with 3RAR in Korea, during which time he participated in at two historic battles, these being the Battle of Kapyong (April 1951), and Maryang San (October 1951). A summarized account of these two actions appear later in this narrative.

Following are accounts of experiences Jim had during the Battle of Kapyong, as related to his son.

Account No. 1
“I was the platoon commander of 6 platoon in B Company. B Company had taken up position on a small stand-alone hill feature on the valley floor, overlooking the north-south road. For most of the day civilian refugees and retreating Republic of Korea (ROK) troops had been streaming past our position.

Just on dusk I saw a number of American tanks heading south along the road, and thinking they could be of some use to us, I quickly went down the hill and was able to stop the last few, the others having already gone well past our position.

Suggesting to the American commander that his and the remaining tanks could join the other tanks we already had in support of the B Company position, the American commander made it clear that he was not very keen on this idea, and eventually only agreed provided I personally walk in front of the tanks, to guide them into position.

While I was in the process of doing this, a couple of Chinese stick-grenades came flying through the air towards me. I threw myself to the ground and rolled towards a ditch at the side of the road. The grenades exploded so close to me, that the hair on one side of my face and half my moustache were burned-off.

As soon as the grenades began exploding, and probably believing I had been killed, the tanks started reversing at speed back down the road. Chinese troops almost immediately began pouring out of the scrub to the side in pursuit of the Tanks.

As there seemed little other option, I remained laying face-down in the ditch pretending to be dead. The Chinese appeared to share my opinion for apart from using my body as a stepping-stone to cross the ditch, they otherwise ignored me while they went in pursuit of the retreating tanks.

Of course at the time I did not know if my ruse would work, and so lay there thinking at any moment I would be shot or get a bayonet in the back.

After a while no other Chinese appeared and the sound of their pursuit faded. Not knowing if there were any Chinese still hanging around, I put my slouch hat on a stick and slowly raised it above the lip of the ditch. When this elicited no fire, I carefully extracted myself from the ditch and began making my way back up the hill to the B Company position.

Just as I thought I should be getting close to the B Company perimeter, I head a very Australian accented voice say ‘There’s one, Geez he’s a big bastard’…….at this point I thought it prudent to immediately identify myself and so, made it safely back into the B Company position.”


Account No. 2
“After we had withdrawn back to 3RAR Bn HQ area, I found Laurie Watts (Bn. Signals Officer) in a rifle pit with a captured Chinese soldier, and Laurie was being very friendly to the prisoner, handing him cigarettes and chocolate. Upon asking why he was treating the prisoner so well, Laurie responded by saying ‘Well Jim, the way things are going you never know when our roles might be reversed’.

For outstanding conduct at the Battle of Kapyong, 3RAR was awarded the United States Presidential Citation, and for exemplary personal gallantry at the Battle of Maryang San, Jim was awarded the Military Cross. Jim’s Military Cross was presented to him in 1954 at Government House (Melbourne) by Queen Elizabeth II.

Jim returned to Australia in November 1951, and having accepted an offer of appointment to the Regular Australian Army, was posted to the School of Infantry (then at Puckapunyal, in Victoria), and was appointed to lead the Army’s Method of Instruction Team.

Deciding that life outside the army offered greater opportunity for his family, in 1957 Jim resigned his commission from the Army.

Soon afterwards he & Deirdre opened J & D Young Pty Ltd at Woollahra (Sydney), a small but successful Mercantile & Insurance Investigation business. Jim & Deirdre jointly ran this company until Deirdre died of a sudden illness in 1976, thereafter Jim operated it by himself until he eventually retired in 1983.

As it was advantageous for business purposes, during the 1960’s both Jim and Deirdre became Justices of the Peace (NSW).

In the early 1970’s Jim accepted the challenge forming a NSW State Emergency Service unit in Woollahra (Sydney). The SES is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community with temporary restoration of flood & storm damage, and is largely made up of volunteers from within the local community. Other volunteer members are drawn from the Sydney metropolitan area.

Jim’s success in organizing the start-up and subsequently leadership of the Woollahra (now called the Waverley / Woollahra) unit was recognized in the late 1970’s, by his appointment as “Controller” of all the Inner City (Sydney) Region SES units, this being an appointment he held until retirement in 1983.

In 1987, Jim took himself on a holiday to China, a place he long wanted to visit, having in late 1950 come close, but no quite making it to the Yalu River border separating China from Korea.

Soon after Jim’s return from China, he died of a sudden illness in Brisbane on the 25th July, 1987.



Battle of Kapyong, April 23-24th, 1951

Was fought during the Korean War between United Nations (UN) forces—primarily Australian and Canadian—and the Chinese communist People's Volunteer Army.

The fighting occurred during the Chinese Spring Offensive and saw the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade establish blocking positions in the Kapyong Valley, on a key route south to the capital, Seoul.

The two forward battalions—3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) and 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI)—occupied positions astride the valley and hastily developed defences.

As thousands of South Korean soldiers began to withdraw through the valley, the Chinese infiltrated the brigade position under the cover of darkness, and assaulted the Australians on Hill 504 during the evening and into the following day.

Although heavily outnumbered, the 27th Brigade held their positions into the afternoon before the Australians were finally withdrawn to positions in the rear of the brigade, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties.

The Chinese then turned their attention to the Canadians on Hill 677, but during a fierce night battle they were unable to dislodge them.

The fighting helped blunt the Chinese offensive and the actions of the Australians and Canadians at Kapyong were important in assisting to prevent a breakthrough on the United Nations Command central front, and ultimately the capture of Seoul.

The two battalions bore the brunt of the assault and stopped an entire Chinese division during the hard fought defensive battle. The next day the Chinese withdrew back up the valley, in order to regroup.

Today, the battle is regarded as one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian and Canadian armies in Korea, and saw 3 RAR and 2 PPCLI being awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation for their actions during the Battle of Kapyong.

The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the United States Armed Forces, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.

The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign.

The collective degree of valor (combat heroism) against an armed enemy by the unit nominated for the PUC is the same as that which would warrant award of the individual award of the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Cross or Navy Cross.

In some cases, one or more individuals within the unit may have also been awarded individual awards for their contribution to the actions for which their entire unit was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.

JHAY participated in the Battle of Kapyong as the officer commanding 6 Platoon, B Company, 3 RAR.




United States Presidential Unit Citation
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

The US Presidential Unit Citation is a US army award for bravery that can be bestowed on an entire unit. It is awarded to units of the US army and co-belligerent nations for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy. 3RAR was serving as part of the US-led UN forces in the Korean War (1950–53) when it was decorated for the outstanding bravery demonstrated by the men of the battalion at the battle of Kapyong in April 1951. At this time the award was known as the Distinguished Unit Citation. It was redesignated the Presidential Unit Citation in November 1966.
HEADQUARTERS
EIGHTH UNITED STATES ARMY ( KOREA )
Office of the Commanding General
APO 301
GENERAL ORDER number 453 23rd June 1951 AWARD OF DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION

BATTLE HONOURS – By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order 9396 (Sec I, WD Bul. 22, 1943) Superseding Executive Order 9075 (Sec III, WD Bul. 16, 1942) and pursuant to authority in AR 260-15, the following units are cited as public evidence of deserved honour and distinction.
3RD BATTALION, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT
2ND BATTALION, PRINCESS PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY
COMPANY A, 72ND HEAVY TANK BATTALION (UNITED STATES)
are cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of combat duties in action against the armed enemy near Kapyong, Korea, on the 24 and 25 April 1951.

The enemy had broken through the main line of resistance and penetrated to the area north of Kapyong. The units listed above were deployed to stem the assault. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, moved to the right flank of the sector and took up defensive positions north of the Pukham River. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, defended in the vicinity of Hill 677 on the left flank. Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, supported all units to the full extent of its capacity and, in addition, kept the main roads open and assisted in evacuating the wounded.

Troops from a retreating division passed through the sector which enabled enemy troops to infiltrate with the withdrawing forces. The enemy attacked savagely under the clangor of bugles and trumpets. The forward elements were completely surrounded going through the first day and into the second.
Again and again the enemy threw waves of troops at the gallant defenders, and many times succeeded in penetrating the outer defences, but each time the courageous, indomitable, and determined soldiers repulsed the fanatical attacks.
Ammunition ran low and there was no time for food. Critical supplies were dropped by air to the encircled troops, and they stood their ground in resolute defiance of the enemy. With serene and indefatigable persistence, the gallant soldiers held their defensive positions and took heavy tolls of the enemy. In some instances when the enemy penetrated the defences, the commanders directed friendly artillery fire on their own positions in repelling the thrusts. Toward the close of 25 April, the enemy break-through had been stopped.
The seriousness of the break-through on the central front had been changed from defeat to victory by the gallant stand of these heroic and courageous soldiers. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; and Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, displayed such gallantry, determination, and espirit de corps in accomplishing their missions under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set them apart and above other units participating in the campaign, and by their achievements they brought distinguished credit on themselves, their homelands, and all freedom-loving nations

BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL VAN FLEET:
Leven C. Allen
Major General US Army
Chief of Staff


The Battle of Maryang San
The First Battle of Maryang San (3−8 October 1951), was fought during the Korean War between United Nations (UN) forces (primarily Australian and British) and the Chinese communist People's Volunteer Army.

The fighting occurred during a limited UN offensive by US I Corps, codenamed Operation Commando.

This offensive ultimately pushed the Chinese back from the Imjin River to the Jamestown Line and destroyed elements of four Chinese armies following heavy fighting.

The smaller battle at Maryang San took place over a five-day period, and saw the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) dislodge a numerically superior Chinese force from the tactically important Kowang-San (Hill 355) and Maryang San (Hill 317) features, in conjunction with other units of the 1st Commonwealth Division.

Using tactics first developed against the Japanese in New Guinea during the Second World War, the Australians gained the advantage of the high ground and assaulted the Chinese positions from unexpected directions.

They then repelled repeated Chinese counterattacks aimed at re-capturing Maryang San, with both sides suffering heavy casualties before the Australians were finally relieved by a British battalion.

Today, the battle is widely regarded as one of the Australian Army's greatest accomplishments during the war.

JHY participated in the Battle of Maryang San as OC of D Company 3 RAR, and for his actions was awarded the Military Cross, which was subsequently presented to him at an investiture at Government House in Melbourne, by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.

The MC is granted in recognition of "an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land to all members, of any rank in Our Armed Forces.



30th Battalionion, NSW Scottish – Post War II Period
(Extract from the Battalion History Web-Page)

In early 1948, the Government decided to reform the Citizen Military Forces on a voluntary basis, similar to pre-war, and 30th Battalion was one of the Units in the reorganisation. Interviewing of the officers commenced in May 1948 and senior NCOs in June, with general recruiting beginning on 1st July.

Very soon some 580 all ranks had been enlisted and due to the large number of ex-servicemen who had enlisted, within twelve months the Battalion had reached a high level of efficiency.

Training consisted of an annual 14 day camp, bivouacs about every two months and weekly parades and this continued until the Battalion was disbanded some 12 years later.

In June 1950 the Korean War broke out and immediately several 30 Battalion officers volunteered to join the Australian forces sent to Korea, with one officer, Capt J Young, earning an MC and another officer, Lt K MacGregor, being badly wounded. In all some 56 members of the 30th volunteered and served in the Korean War.

In 1951 a compulsory National Service system was introduced where Army draftees were required to serve 98 days initial full-time training and then 2 years part-time training with a CMF Unit. In November 1951 30 Battalion received its first intake of National Servicemen, 26 members, all of whom had volunteered for service in the 30th prior to being called up for National Service.

In December 1951 the Battalion won and was presented with the Heath Trophy, which was awarded to the most efficient Unit in Eastern Command. The Trophy was won again by the Battalion the following year.

By 1954 the National Service scheme had reached its full effect and although intakes of as much as 200 had been sent to the Battalion, the years 1954 to 1957 were lean because possible volunteers had been called up. Parade nights were obligatory on only one night each month and this, with the reduction in volunteer numbers, mitigated against the spirit of the wholly voluntary nature of the Battalion.

As well as this, the obligatory posting of numbers of National Servicemen to whom the wearing of the kilt had little appeal had an adverse effect on the Battalion. National Servicemen at the time were not permitted a wet Mess and the closure of the Corporals' Club and Mens' Institute was not popular with the remaining voluntary members.

In November 1957, the Regiment was given the honour of providing a Royal Guard for the forthcoming visit of the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Colonel-in-Chief of the Black Watch, in February 1958.
During the last quarter of 1959, the Commanding Officer asked the Black Watch for approval to change the name of the Unit to Black Watch of Australia, similar to the precedent in Canada, but before this approval could be given the Army was reorganised.
From its re-formation in 1948 until its disbandment in 1960, 30th Infantry Battalion occupied the Drill Hall at Carlow St North Sydney, although from time to time some Companies were based at Forest Lodge, Vaucluse and Pymble.

Summary of Jim's Service
1. Australian Army Militia
??/??/1938 - 21/07/1940
4th Medium Battery, 1st Medium Brigade (Artillery)

2. 2nd Australian Imperial Forces
22/07/1940 - 16/10/1945
2/9th Filed Regiment (Artillery) + 2/48th Infantry Battalion

3. Citizen’s Military Forces
01/05/1948 - 30/04/1950
30th (NSW Scottish) Infantry Battalion

4. Australian Regular Army
01/05/1950 - 31/07/1957
3RAR, Methods of Instruction Team (MIT), 4RAR

5. State Emergency Services (Controller - Inner City of Sydney)
01/01/1973 - 23/11/1982