Alan Young (Primary Source) | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Memory Project

Alan Young (Primary Source)

Published Online August 3, 2022

Last Edited January 31, 2024

This testimony is part of the Memory Project Archive

Interview with Alan Young.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Alan Young
Alan Young
Major Alan Young is presented with the third clasp to his Canadian Forces Decoration by Brigadier General R. B. Button. The award is presented for 42 years of military service.
Alan Young/The Memory Project
Alan Young
Alan Young
Alan Young and colleagues are pictured here in a page taken from a booklet on airborne medical evacuation
Alan Young/The Memory Project
Alan Young
Alan Young
This first Statement of Service details Alan Young's early military service.
Alan Young/The Memory Project
Alan Young
Alan Young
Alan Young's final Statement of Service. Note that over the years he left the ranks of enlisted men to achieve the rank of Major.
Alan Young/The Memory Project
Alan Young
Alan Young
Alan Young, age 16, pictured in the first of the many military uniforms he has worn throughout his life. 1940.
Alan Young/The Memory Project
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My name is Alan Young. My rank is Major. I was a veteran of World War II, having gone overseas in 1943. I stayed in the Armed Forces until 1990 - a total of fifty years.

One of my jobs was as Air Medical Officer for Med Evacuations for the Armed Forces. I arranged the aircraft and staff, etcetera, to pick up Armed Forces personnel who had been seriously injured or were sick, etcetera, and had to be moved to other hospitals or brought back from overseas.

My service during World War II was in England. I was under age when I got over there and I was unable to go to the battlefield. I spent my 3 years in an Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit. After that I had service for a year in Korea and service for 3 years in Germany. All these were tremendous postings. In Korea, I was with the last outfit that was stationed in Korea. This was not a pleasant posting, mind you. But, we had to do it. And the other posting was to Germany for 3 years, where I was in a British hospital and we looked after both the British and the Canadian Forces. In Air Medic Evacs, we had to arrange for air transport for these persons from wherever they were stationed at the time. It was a tremendous experience when you got somebody who had really been hurt or was sick and had to be evacuated back to a base hospital in Canada, they were really glad to get back. The only other thing I might mention, I was awarded the 3rd Class Duty Canadian Forces Decoration in 1984. This was for 42 years of service. I completed another 8 years after that at a total amount of service of 50 years.