Joseph Rogers Young – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

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Joseph Rogers Young

Joseph Rogers Young, was born in Newport News, Virginia, on September 10, 1908, graduated from George Washington University at the age of 18, and from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1930, at the age of 21.

Dr. Young served his country as an Army surgeon from May 1942 to November 1946, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was stationed at Army Hospitals in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, Florida, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Framingham, Massachusetts.

At the end of the war, he was one of 100 surgeons in critical specialties to be selected to remain on active duty. On October 11, 1942, he and Julia Frances Crouse, a surgical nurse, were married. Although he and his wife had no children, they served as second parents to numerous nieces and nephews. They funded many college educations for these children that resulted in a corporate lawyer, a college professor, a newspaper columnist, two successful businessmen, a maxillofacial surgeon and a home maker who has volunteered her time and talents all over the world as an Army wife.

Dr. Young was a surgeon of great renown throughout the Washington, DC, area during his more than 50 years in private practice as he specialized in trauma, emergency medicine and reconstructive surgery. In 1948 he led a team of surgeons who saved the life of a burn victim that resulted in an article by Life Magazine. It was one of the first instances when skin grafted onto the patient came from donors.

Later in his career, Dr. Young served as chief of the professional staff of Casualty Hospital.  He was a charter member and former chairman of the mayor’s advisory committee on emergency medical service for the District.

From 1969 to 1977, he served on the D.C. Health Policy and Planning Council.  In 1978, the D.C. Medical Society honored him for outstanding public service. He was a former president of the Washington Academy of Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Young retired from private practice in 1986 and became corporate medical director and medical review officer for Amtrak.  He retired from Amtrak in 1990.  Dr. Young died on June 30, 2003, at the age of 94.

Julia Crouse Young, beloved wife of Lieutenant Colonel (Dr) Joseph Rogers Young died peacefully at the age of 93 on December 25, 2004, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, after a brief illness.

Julia Crouse Young was an artist, teacher, world traveler and the foundation on which one of the District of Columbia's foremost medical careers was built.  Born to a farming family in Rutherford, Tennessee, the fourth of seven children who survived to adulthood, Mrs. Young demonstrated a gift for drawing and composition at an early age, but it was to a career in nursing that she was drawn.

Having graduated as a registered nurse from Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1935, and working in Tennessee for a few years, Mrs. Young moved to Washington in 1938, where she made her home for the next 66 years.  It was as a surgical nurse that she met her future husband, Joseph Rogers Young, M.D.  They married in 1942, and were together until his death in June 2003.

The Youngs traveled extensively throughout their marriage, collecting memorabilia and memories from around the world; at the same time, Dr. Young also created a significant medical practice, specializing in trauma care, and building Casualty Hospital in Northeast Washington.

During World War II, the Youngs were stationed in Army Hospitals in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, Florida, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Framingham, Massachusetts.

Following World War II, when Dr. Young mustered out of the Army, the Youngs remained popular fixtures at the Army-Navy Club in downtown Washington and the Naval Officers Club in Bethesda, Maryland.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Young made a hospitable home in Chevy Chase, where guests always felt welcome and through which a small division of nieces and nephews paraded during summer vacations and other school breaks.

Along the way, Mrs. Young rediscovered her youthful fascination with putting images on paper, and thus began a love affair with water colors that spanned five decades. Her work earned countless blue ribbons at local, state and regional art shows.  A pleasing blend of efficient technician and imaginative colorist, Mrs. Young's paintings were much in demand; but rather than paint only for herself and her loyal cadre of fans, she also taught, first in Chevy Chase, and later at Asbury Village in Gaithersburg, where she and Dr. Young lived out their final years.

Mrs. Young was a longtime member of Chevy Chase United Methodist Church and, upon moving to Gaithersburg, the Grace Methodist Church.

Mrs. Young is survived by a sister, Dee C. Jackson, of Rutherford, Tennessee; a brother, Robert Crouse, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and his wife, Laverda; eight nieces and nephews and assorted grand nieces and nephews.  She will be profoundly missed.

A memorial service was held January 11, 2005, at the Hefner auditorium of the Diamond Building at Asbury Village in Gaithersburg, with the Rev. Lou Piel of Grace Methodist Church officiating.  Mrs. Young was inurned in Arlington National Cemetary on May 2, 2005.

  • YOUNG, JOSEPH R
  • LT COL   US ARMY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 09/10/1908
  • DATE OF DEATH: 06/29/2003
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 5-GG  ROW 24  SITE 5 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETER
  • YOUNG, JULIA CROUSE
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 10/11/1911
  • DATE OF DEATH: 12/25/2004
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 5-GG  ROW 24  SITE 5
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
    WIFE OF WIFE OF YOUNG, JOSEPH R, LT COL US ARMY

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