James L. Young

Rank: Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army

Serial Number: W2000201

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: June 16, 1944

Burial: Harleigh Cemetery, Haddon Avenue, Camden, NJ

Chief Warrant Officer James L. Young was born in Union City, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1883. He married Rebecca Hoffman in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 19, 1906, and the couple had two children, Harry and Bertha. The family lived in Pennsylvania into the 1920s. By 1920 the Youngs had moved to 13 East Collings Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey, where James was working as a machinist in a shipyard. During the 1920s the family moved to 107 Lincoln Avenue in Collingswood. By 1935 they had moved again to 5 East Walnut Avenue in Westmont, NJ, which remained the family home through 1940.

James L. Young was musically gifted. He taught music at the State Home for Boys at Jamesburg, NJ, from 1927 to 1930, and served as bandmaster at the State School at Annandale, NJ, from 1930 to 1932. He organized and led the Camden Firemen’s Band from 1926 until January of 1928, when the position was abolished by the city. In his civilian career, he was employed as an inspector by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in Camden, NJ.

Young was a member of the New Jersey National Guard as early as 1920, holding the rank of warrant officer in the Service Company of the 114th Infantry Regiment. He was called to active service in September of 1940 when the entire United States National Guard was mobilized. He was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer on January 21, 1942.

Chief Warrant Officer Young died on June 16, 1944, at Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been taken after suffering a heart attack at Malden Field, Missouri. He was 60 years old. Military rites were held on June 21, 1944, conducted by the Westmont Post of the VFW at Foster’s Funeral Home, 800 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. He was interred at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, NJ, where his wife Rebecca joined him in 1980.

He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Rebecca J. Young; a son, Harry W. Young, of Philadelphia; a daughter, Mrs. Bertha M. Downs, of Westmont; two grandchildren, Mary Ellen Downs and James Harry Young; his father, Samuel Young, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; and two sisters, Mrs. Daisy Williams and Mrs. Anna Souter, both of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

James L. Young is memorialized on the War Memorial on Haddon Avenue in Westmont (Haddon Township), NJ.

The Camden police and fire department band today was without a bandmaster as the result of notice served on James Young, Collingswood, yesterday that the position he has as bandmaster has been abolished.

Notice of his dismissal was sent Young by Commissioner David Rhone. Young, who had continued in his post until yesterday, was informed that the position had been abolished January 1.

Young was appointed bandmaster about two years ago after passing the tests required by the State Civil Service Commission. The post paid $150.00 a month.