George Haywood Young, Jr. – Brigadier General, United States Army

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Brigadier General George Haywood Young Jr.

Born January 21, 1921
Died October 23, 1996

Second Lieutenant 1942
Brigadier General 1966

Battalion Commander, 3rd Infantry Division 1949-50
Served with the Army General Staff 1952-54 & 1958-61
Chief of Plans Branch (DCOS Logistics), US.Army-Europe 1962-64
Commanding Officer, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division 1964-66
Chief of Staff, Army Communications-Zone, Europe 1966-67
Deputy Chief of Staff (Plans & Operations), US.Army, Viet-Nam 1967
Assistant Division Commander, 23rd Infantry Division 1967-68
Commanding General, Da Nang Support Command 1968
Assistant Division Commander, 24th Infantry Division 1968-70
Director of Maintenance, Army Materiel Command 1970-71
Retired 1971
Distinguished Service Medal – Silver Star – Legion of Merit – Bronze Star Medal – Purple Heart – Air Medal

Brigadier General George H. Young, Jr., Interim Commander, 198th Infantry Brigade, Republic of Vietnam.

Major General Samuel W. Koster, who was commander of the Americal Division in Vietnam at the time of the reported My Lai massacre, was accused of “dereliction in the performance of his duties” and “failure to obey lawful regulations.” The same charges were filed against Brigadier General George H. Young, Jr., the assistant division commander, and Colonel Oran K.   Henderson, who was commanding the division’s 11th Infantry Brigade.

Clear 3 Army Officers of Covering Up My Lai
June 1970

A General and two other officers were cleared by the Army Tuesday of charges they helped cover up the alleged Son My-My Lai massacre in South Vietnam two years ago.

Exonerated were Brigadier General George H. Young Jr., Colonel Nels A. Parson and Major Robert W. McKnight.

The Army said Lieutenant General Jonathan O. Seaman, First Army commander at Fort Meade, Maryland, to whom the charges were referred  for investigation, determined they “were unsupported by the evidence.”

The three were among 14 high-ranking Army officers accused earlier this year of hushing up a field investigation of the alleged massacre.

Nine, others, including Major General Samuel W. Koster, remain accused of dereliction of duty while the Army determines if there is enough evidence to hold them for courts-martial.

As the Army commission headed by Lieutenant General William R. Peers announced last March 17 after an extensive 3 1/2-month investigation that “there was testimony and evidence to indicate that certain persons, wittingly or unwittingly, suppressed certain evidence about the incident from passing up the chain of command.”

Koster, who requested reassignment from his post as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when the charges were announced, was the commanding general of the Americal Division, parent of the task force which swept through the My Lai area March 16, 1968.

In addition to the 12 who were accused of hushing up the investigation, 12 other Army officers and enlisted men in the task force were charged with murder and other crimes in the alleged massacre at Son My, village, My Lai hamlet.

These include Captain Ernest L. Medina, charged with over-all responsibility in the death of as many as 175 civilians, and First Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., accused of 102 deaths.  Four of these 12, including Calley have been ordered to stand trial.

The dismissal of charges against Young, Parson and McKnight brought to five the number of officers cleared of complicity in the alleged coverup.  Captain Thomas K. Willingham, 25, of Allenhurst, New Jersey, was cleared June 9.  He was accused of unpremeditated murder and of covering up the massacre.  A cover-up accusation against Medina also was dropped.

Both Young, 49, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Parson, 50, of Toledo, Ohio, were charged with failure to obey lawful regulations and dereliction in the performance of their duties.  McKnight 37, of San Diego, Calif., was accused of false swearing.

At the time of the massacre, Young was assistant commander of the Americal Division while Parson served as chief of staff. McKnight was operations manager of the division’s 11th Brigade.

NOTE: See complete biography below

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