Ron 'Ken' Young

In September 2009 Ron Young, or Ken as he is known to his friends, spoke to Kate and Marc Bridger about his Nos. 9 and 4 Commando days. Kate and Marc care for Ron and he lives with them. They recorded their chat but here is a little of what he said:
He joined the army in 1939. He was in the RASC and volunteered for the Commandos, but was refused due to being married. His army training took him to the scottish borders near gretna, and Cockermouth in the lake district. He was posted to North Africa with the RASC. In 1942 he did get accepted for the commandos. Although he had been a corporal in his regiment, in the commandos he began as a private. His Commando training took place in the desert. From North Africa he joined No.9 Commando in Sicily and from there they went to Itay. He was injured in April 1945 at lake Commachio. He had been wounded by mortar fire. He was with 2 other commandos, the one to his left was killed and Paddy Moore to his right got shrapnel in his shin bone. Despite being injured he managed to drag Paddy into a ditch. He recalls bullets flying over head and him dropping the field dressing whilst trying to patch Paddy up. After that he was out of action for several weeks. After recovering he took part in some raids in Yugoslavia and later went to Greece. There he felt more like peace keepers due to the friction between royalists and communists. They were sent to a town in Greece to stop fighting between royalists and communists but there were only 33 commandos. To make it look as if there were more, they first drove in wearing helmets, later drove out and come back to the town all wearing berets, then a third time wearing another type of head gear! When Germany surrendered he moved to 4 Commando and was posted to Germany. To start with they were not allowed to talk with any Germans, but as time passed they became friendly with the locals. They used to organise childrens partys when they could at a pub run by the Americans. When they left the German people of the town lined the streets and clapped and cheered them. He left the commandos in 1946 when the Commandos were disbanded. The commandos were in his eyes "the best".

(Album created and posted 29th Sept. 2009 by Pete Rogers)

Sadly Ken passed away on the 19th December 2009.

(updated 30th Dec.2009 by Pete R.)