HAROLD SPEAR YOUNG - 308TH INFANTRY
Harold Spear Young was born Dec 12, 1894 in Seattle, Washington. Before the war, he invented, along with F.H. Ihde, the Luminous attachment for gun sights, patented Jan 21, 1919. While stationed in Imperial County, California with the National Guard, he was given orders to report to San Francisco. He was a member of the 308th Army
Regiment. While trapped in the Argonne Forest, he took a bullet in his lungs, which he carried for life. He received the Purple Heart. He didn't like to talk about the war with his family, but often mentioned how difficult it was to get water. Many years after the war, he contacted Harold Wiltse of El Cajon, CA., and begun a long correspondence about their time in the Argonne Forest. Immediately after the war, he attended college at U.C. Davis on the GI Bill. The National Guard then stationed him in La Grange (California) to guard the dam there. There he met his wife, Lucille Haldeman. They lived in different places in Stanislaus County and had three children together. In 1945-6
he and his son owned and operated a general merchandise store in Waterford, California. The family then moved back to Imperial County, where Harold was stationed with the U.S. Customs Department. After retirement, he worked for Rohr Industries.
He died April 30, 1972, in Chula Vista, CA., leaving as survivors his wife Lucille Haldeman Young and his sons Francis and Harold ("Bud"), as well as many grandchildren. His daughter Ella died young in El Centro, CA of spinal meningitis. He, his wife and Ella are all buried in Glen Abbey Mortuary in Bonita, Ca.
Throughout his life, he was an inventor, innovator and loyal husband,
father, grandfather and friend. More importantly, he was a hero to our
country and a devoted family man who is still missed by all who knew and
loved him.
Letters written to Harold Spear Young describing action on
From: Kelly J. Cowan (great granddaughter)
August 2003