PART 1
PART 2 TO FOLLOWThe Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to accompany US Army Technical Sergeant Charles E. Young, Jr. from the airport to the funeral home in preparation to be laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery. It will our honor to accompany this repatriated WWII hero from the Greatest Generation.
On April 17, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Technical Sergeant Charles E. Young, Jr., missing from World War II.
T Sgt Young entered the U.S. Army from California and served with the 429th Signal Maintenance Company (Aviation) in the Philippines during World War II in late December 1941. He was captured following the American surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, and forced on the Bataan Death March. He was ultimately interned in the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of malaria and dysentery on July 16, 1942. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan.
T Sgt Young was buried in Common Grave 316 at the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery along with other deceased American POWs. Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Several sets of remains from Common Grave 316 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable and were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as Unknowns. In April 2019, the remains associated with Common Grave 316 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and T Sgt Young.
T Sgt Young is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
NOTE: This mission posting is to facilitate your voluntary participation in honoring this military veteran. For those interested, and all PGR members are welcome, we will be accompanying this WWII hero from the airport to the funeral home, 40 miles. Please see the timetable if you would like to participate. For those who would rather go directly to the mortuary, we will meet you there.
TIMETABLE FOR FRIDAY, 25 OCTOBER 20241100: Stage at Jack and the Box, Holt Blvd, Ontario, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ds5vz7RVPeesTGLY91115: Mission briefing.
1145: Move to arrival location.
1230: KSU Evans-Brown, 27010 Encanto Dr, Sun City, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dYTU5evadyetWN3b81330: ETA to mortuary. Flag line as hero is moved from the coach to the building.
Mike "Joker" Courtright
SoCal PGR Ride Captain
Patriot Guard Ride Captain #202572
Orange County, CA
mokynanapo@sbcglobal.net
714-321-3356"Standing For Those Who Stood For UsOnly two defining forces offered to die for you:
Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other one died for your freedom.
You do not have to be a veteran or a motorcycle rider to attend this mission. All PGR members are welcome. We encourage those who do not ride to attend in your car. If this will be your first mission go to the initial staging area and you will be briefed there by the Ride Captain (RC). Dress for motorcycle riding or dress casually if you are driving a cage (car). Please feel free to attend any portion of this mission you can. Please ride/drive safely.
