The Great War Western Front Motor Ambulance Convoy motor vehicle driver’s final advance in Picardy September to November 1918 Military Medal group awarded to Private E.J. Young, Army Service Corps. Young from the village of Camblesforth, nearly to Snaith, Selby, East Yorkshire, was a pre-war lorry driver with extensive service in Studebaker, Argyll, and Humber lorries, he having worked for a garage proprietor and a medical practitioner, with whom he had logged over 10,000 miles of driving experience. Having joined up in September 1915, he saw service out on the Western Front when attached to the 538th Motor Transport Company and seeing service with the 15th Motor Ambulance Convoy from early October 1915. Young was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field in 17th Army Orders of February 1919, his award being gazetted on 20th August 1919, which indicates and award earned over a period of time in late 1918.
Group of 4: Military Medal, GVR bust; (M2-120327 PTE. E.J. YOUNG. R.A.S.C.); 1914-1915 Star; (M2-120327 PTE. E.J. YOUNG. A.S.C.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (M2-120327 PTE. E.J. YOUNG. A.S.C.)
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Eli John Young came from Snaith near to Selby, East Yorkshire, and was specifically living in the village of Camblesforth and working as a motor mechanic and driver in lorries, when owing to the Great War he then attested for service for the duration of the war. He joined at Grove Park on 6th September 1915 as a Private (No.M2-120327) the Army Service Corps for service with Mechanical Transport.
Prior to his attesting, he had got his boss, a garage proprietor, to make a declaration as to his qualifications as a motor vehicle driver. In a period of 18 months he had logged some 7800 miles of driving, with experience gained in Studebaker, Argyll, and Humber lorries. This declaration had been signed on 17th August 1915. A day prior to this he had also received a declaration from a medical practitioner for whom he had also worked as a lorry driver for some 8 months, logging 5-6,000 miles in Argyll trucks.
Young embarked aboard the S.S. “Queen Alaxandra” at Southampton on 3rd October 1915, and disembarked at Rouen on the following day, and then saw service out on the Western Front when attached to the 538th Motor Transport Company and seeing service with the 15th Motor Ambulance Convoy, driving a motor ambulance or support vehicle for the convoy, and evacuating the sick and wounded from the casualty clearing stations and the hospitals. The 15th Motor Ambulance Convoy formed part of the 17th Corps, which operated in the 3rd Army Area.
On 7th February 1916 he disobeyed some orders, for which two days later he was sentenced to 14 days deduction of pay. The 17th Corps played a part in repulsing the German attack on Vimy Ridge in May 1916, but was then not actively engaged in any of the major battles until the Battle of Arras in 1917. Then during 1918 it took part in the battles on the Somme, the Second Battle of Arras, the battles of the Hindenburg Line, and the final advance in Picardy, being latterly in action during the passage of the Grand Honelle on 5th to 7th November 1918.
Young was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field in 17th Army Orders of 19th February 1919, as published in the London Gazette for 20th August 1919, which indicates and award earned over a period of time in late 1918, as this gazette consists of awards made to those who had performed consistently well, on the whole, between 1st September and 11th November 1918 during the final advance in Picardy.
Young was posted home and eventually transferred to the Army Reserve on demobilisation on 12th September 1919.