Col. Leilyn M. Young's Obituary
Col. Leilyn M. Young
Services for Col. Leilyn M. Young, U.S. Army, Ret., 86, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 31, 2004 in the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home, Longview with the Revs. Dan Miller, Bill Cunningham, and David Lindwall officiating. Visitation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with full military honors. Col. Young passed away Wednesday morning, July 28, in a local hospital following a lengthy illness.
Leilyn Malhorn Young was born August 16, 1917 to O.R. and Minnie Malhorn Young in Pleasanton, KS. As a young man, he was employed as city editor of the Leavenworth Times and received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Journalism from the University of Missouri. Col. Young was commissioned a 2nd Lt. of Infantry and reported for active duty in September 1941. During his 32-year career in the U. S. Army, he served overseas during WWII with the 34th Infantry in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Great Britain. He volunteered for ranger training under Gen. Wm Darby in the 1st Ranger Battalion in Tunisia and Sicily. After the war, he was based at NATO Headquarters in Naples, Italy. He was a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and also the Army War College. Col. Young served as executive officer for the Seventh Infantry Division in Korea and later became Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA. During the Vietnam War, he was chief of psychological warfare in the Pacific under Admiral John McCain and then received orders to report to the Pentagon, where he was Deputy Director of special operations for the Army. He was awarded the Legion of Merit three times, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Following his retirement from the Army in 1973, Col. and Mrs. Young moved to Longview. They joined First Methodist Church and he was a volunteer at Good Shepherd Medical Center until last year. He also worked at BMI in Longview for twenty years. His favorite pastime was gardening and keeping a beautiful yard and feeding the birds.
Col. Young was preceded in death by his parents and an infant son, Robert Ray Young. He is survived by his devoted wife of 59 years, Nolan McCollum Young, a nephew, Reggie and Lisa McCollum, and great-nephew, Kyle McCollum, of Midland, a nephew, Pat and Janice McCollum, and great-niece, Jackie McCollum of Houston.
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