Lieutenant-Colonel A.M. Young
Royal Regiment of Canada

I have been pleased with your conduct during the last two very trying weeks, and can only say—keep it up. I don’t think it will be long now, and if you can maintain the spirit and esprit-de-corps that we have now–there is no doubt as to what will happen when we meet the enemy.

(Young address, War Diary, 23 Jun 1944)

Born in Toronto on 9 May 1905, Austin Moore Young was a businessman and insurance agent.  In 1929, he qualified as a lieutenant in the Toronto Regiment, which became the Royal Regiment of Canada in 1936. Having completed a senior officer’s course, Young became second-in-command in September 1943. By the end of the year, he had succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel F.S. Wilder. For the next six months the regiment trained for the anticipated invasion of France and Young temporarily took over the 4th Infantry Brigade during absences of the brigadier.

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