Frederick Youens VC

Second Lieutenant Frederick Youens VC
13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry
(Durham Light Infantry Image)

Near Hill 60, Belgium: Action of 7 July 1917
LOYAL, TRUE AND KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. While out on patrol this officer was wounded and had to return to his trenches to have his wounds dressed. Shortly afterwards a report came in that the enemy were preparing to raid our trenches. 2nd Lt. Youens, regardless of his wound, immediately set out to rally the team of a Lewis gun, which had become disorganised owing to heavy shell fire. During this process an enemy’s bomb fell on the Lewis gun position without exploding. 2nd Lt. Youens immediately picked it up and hurled it over the parapet. Shortly afterwards another bomb fell near the same place; again 2nd Lt. Youens picked it up with the intention of throwing it away, when it exploded in his hand, severely wounding him and also some of his men. There is little doubt that the prompt and gallant action of 2nd Lt. Youens saved several of his men’s lives and that by his energy and resource the enemy’s raid was completely repulsed. This gallant officer has since succumbed to his wounds.

Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm) was a significant place of the fallen that I wanted to visit for many years. Not only was this the burial site of Frederick Youens VC but also of two well known Victoria, B.C. residents; Captain William Dumbleton Holmes DSO, MC and Lieutenant George Walter Nation. Both B.C. soldiers served with the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion and Nation was well known to me, as I had frequented the Nation family memorial (an obelisk) at Ross Bay Cemetery and viewed the Nation memorial window at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria. Holmes, though I knew of the well-known family, was anchored in memory by a rather battered newspaper clipping I once saw. I have yet to connect Holmes to another location here in Victoria…perhaps one day this will come or perhaps there is a surprise amongst the thousands of images taken in my wanders at home?

Nation family memorial, Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, B.C.
(P. Ferguson image March 2019)

As always, prior to my arrival in France and Flanders, I had prepared a record of Great War landscapes to view and observe. My intention, after finding specifics, to search amongst the markers, grounds, and landscapes to find the resonance of voices amongst the stone story boards that provide clues to their living lives. Row by row I walk, see and read, camera in hand. This is how Youens VC was happened upon and so too others…Moore, Lawson, Dodgson, Broughton, the unknown Sikhs of the Indian Army and the others…so many lives.

Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, also known as Transport Farm, was first established in April 1915. Between 1916 – 1917 the cemetery was in heavy use due to the number of Advanced Dressing Stations dug into the nearby railway embankment near to the Ieper Railway Station. Frederick Youens VC died 7 July 1917…his Victoria Cross is exhibited at the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Durham Art Gallery.

Youens marker at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Belgium. (P. Ferguson image, September 2005)

Youens marker at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm), Belgium, Age 24
(P. Ferguson image, September 2005)

Helpful Link
Durham at War

Near to the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground.
(P. Ferguson image, September 2005)

Tags: 7 July 1917, Durham at War, Durham Light Infantry, Frederick Youens VC, George Walter Nation, Hill 60, Indian Army, Posthumous Victoria Cross, Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Sikhs, Transport Farm, William Dumbleton Holmes DSO MC

This entry was posted by pferguson on Saturday, November 5th, 2022 at 8:21 am and is filed under November Series, Remember Them Well. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

pferguson

Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France. Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was captivated by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Over time Paul became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography, narration and soundtracks. At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was inspired when he learned Weir visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. "Gallipoli", the film, led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli, North Macedonia and Salonika. When Paul first watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests was a natural progression. Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, Paul believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.” While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.

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