Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Russell Richard Thomas Young, (25 June 1902 – 1990) was a New Zealand

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

player, army officer, and corporate executive.

Early life

Young was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 25 June 1902. His parents were Theodosia Evelyn Young and Arthur Young.

Tennis career

Young went up to

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

where he read Chemistry and took a tennis

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

, before pursuing an advanced degree. In 1927, as a member (and later captain) of the

Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1881, seven years before the Lawn Tennis Association of Great Britain was founded. Although it is called a 'club', it is actually the lawn tennis association of the whole of the University of Cam ...

, Young undertook a sporting tour of Germany, with teammates including future Wimbledon finalist

Bunny Austin Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin (26 August 1906 – 26 August 2000) was an English tennis player. For 74 years he was the last Briton to reach the final of the men's singles at Wimbledon, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist ...

, and the comedian

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...

. In the same year, Young competed at the Wimbledon Championships in the Men's Doubles. Young represented New Zealand in the

1928 Davis Cup The 1928 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the 23rd edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup. 27 teams would enter the Europe Zone, while six would enter the America Zone. Chile, Finland, and Norway made their first appearances in the c ...

, reaching the quarter-finals. At the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was living in London and working as an executive for

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

Second World War

Young was commissioned in the

New Zealand Military Forces , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

, and fought in North Africa and Italy. As a captain and company commander, he was the only member of the 22nd Battalion to escape after much of the battalion was encircled and captured at

Ruweisat Ridge Ruweisat Ridge is a geographical feature in the Western Egyptian desert, midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Qattara Depression. During World War II was a prominent part of the defence line in the First and Second Battle of El Alamein ...

during

First Battle of El Alamein The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War, fought in Egypt between Axis (German and Italian) forces of the Panzer Army Africa—which included the under Field Marshal ...

. To complete this escape he trekked for four days and nights across the Libyan desert with limited supplies and only the stars to guide him. The commander of the

New Zealand Division The New Zealand Division was an infantry division of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for service in the First World War. It was formed in Egypt in early 1916 when the New Zealand and Australian Division was renamed after the detachmen ...

, Major General

Howard Kippenberger Major General Sir Howard Karl Kippenberger, (28 January 1897 – 5 May 1957), known as "Kip", was an officer of the New Zealand Military Forces who served in the First and Second World Wars. Born in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, Kippen ...

recalled in his memoirs that: Young later served as the

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

Māori Battalion The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. It formed following pressure on the Labour government from some Māori Memb ...

. During the Italian Campaign, Young was awarded a

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

by Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg for his conduct during the

Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...

. During the Rimini assault, Young recorded in his diary: The ''

Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45 The ''Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45'' is a 48-volume series published by the War History Branch (and its successors) of the Department of Internal Affairs which covered New Zealand involvement in the Second Wor ...

'' records that:

Postwar

Following the Second World War, Young returned to the business world, serving as a corporate director. From 1952, he took up residence in
Trumpeters' House
one of the surviving Tudor-era buildings in the grounds of

Richmond Palace Richmond Palace was a royal residence on the River Thames in England which stood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Situated in what was then rural Surrey, it lay upstream and on the opposite bank from the Palace of Westminster, which w ...

. He died in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in 1990. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007; Volume 14, p1565.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Russell 1902 births 1990 deaths New Zealand Companions of the Distinguished Service Order New Zealand colonels New Zealand male tennis players New Zealand military personnel of World War II Military personnel from Wellington City