Profile
John Ruder Younge
(1907–1993)
Johannes Junge was born in Denmark in 1907. He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1911 and within years he was naturalised as a Canadian. He moved to the USA in 1937 and served in the USAAF as John Ruder Younge from 1942.
John Ruder Younge—originally Johannes Junge—was born on 2 February 1907 in Spjald near Ringkøbing, to Carl Christian Junge and Elna Kirstine Junge (née Ruder).[1]
Younge emigrated to Canada in 1911, arriving in Quebec with his mother and siblings onboard the SS Ascania on 12 October 1911. His father had arrived in January 1911.[2] The family settled in Battle River, Alberta, where Younge grew up and assisted on the farm. Younge was naturalised in Canada.[3]
In August 1937, he moved to the United States and two years later, on 27 January 1939, he declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[4] He was living in New York at the time of his draft in October 1940.[5]
Younge enlisted as a private (32230286) in the US Army in Camp Upton Yaphank, New York, on 18 March 1942. He was still a naturalised Canadian at this point. His civil occupation was categorised as electrical engineer and he was living in Queens, New York. [6] He was trained as a bomber radio operator and gunner and promoted to Staff Sergeant in the USAAF.[7]
After the war, he worked as an electrical engineer for Eastman-Kodak for 36 years before retiring to Lady Lake, Orlando, Florida in 1976. He died on 13 July 1993.[8]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Brejning Sogn.
[2] Ancestry: Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.
[3] Ancestry: 1921 Census of Canada and 1931 Census of Canada.
[4] Ancestry: Pennsylvania, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1945.
[5] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
[6] Ancestry; U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[7] With the Forces, Edmonton Journal, 26 December 26, 1942, p. 20.
[8] Obituary, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 July 1993, p. 6.