I wonder...

[jennythe_reader]

In researching my family tree I was reminded of our connection to Rodger Young, a WWII hero. (He was a cousin of my Grandmother, but I haven't tracked down the exact relationship yet.)

I re-read the wikipedia page and found a couple other sites that talk about him and about the song written about him. This profile, as over-romanticized as it is,

Comments

[stefka]

In Heinlein's "Starship Troopers," Johnny is assigned to the Rodger Young, and the boarding call IS that song. :) Used both in the book and in the (moderately silly) movie.

And damn, now I want to read that story, too, but they'd have been contemporaries, so I'm not sure how it would be accomplished. Hmm.

[jennythe_reader]

Well, according to this timeline, Steve took the serum June 15th, 1943. Young died 6 weeks later, on July 31st 1943.

My mental image is of Steve running into Phillips at a bar a couple days after Young's death. Phillips talks him into having a drink with him, and offers a toast to Young. Steve asks who that is and Phillips tells him that while Steve was the best candidate Erskine had met, he had heard of a few others that might also be good choices. The plan was that if his faith in Steve was justified he would try to meet some of the other promising young men and invite the ones he thought suitable to participate in the next round. Rodger Young was the first name on that list. He just died a hero, saving the lives of his platoon while stationed in the South Pacific.

You know, I might just try to turn this into a story myself.

[lawchicky]

How cool is that? I've been interested in working on my family tree, but "free time" has been so limited that I haven't gotten close to touching it.

[jennythe_reader]

Research is a generous description of what I've been doing. :) A better one would be that I've been collating the research other folks have done. Ancestry.com makes that part really easy.