This is a bit of a family history conundrum that I'm working on for a good friend, involving a U.S. soldier called Wiley (or possibly Wylie) Young. He was a soldier of an black regiment, stationed at the army camp at the Lawns, Cottingham during the war. We'd estimate from the age of one of children shown in the attached photo (my friend's uncle) that this must date to around 1941-1943. The story goes that Wiley was sheltering from the rain in Finkle Street, Cottingham one day and some members of the family invited him into their house for shelter. The unit's Colonel somehow found out about this and came round to say basically "We don't allow that sort of thing." As one of the family had worked in a NAAFI, she told the Colonel in no uncertain terms that it wasn't a problem with her having a black soldier in her house and her family would make him welcome. Wiley was so taken with the kindness, that he asked to take the two children to a professional photographer called Jerome's in Whitefriargate, Hull and had this picture taken, which he later sent a copy of back to his family in the U.S. - he was evidently very humbled that he was able to associate with the family at all. Is it possible to say anything about him from his uniform at all? Are we able to trace what units might have been stationed in this area, what the camp was like and figure out what unit Wiley might have been part of? I've looked on the 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses and there are a few possibles, but as we don't know where Wiley came from, it's a bit needle in a haystack job! Nor do I really know anything much about sources of info for U.S. soldiers in WWII. So any help gratefully received! many thanks David
David, thanks for sharing the story and what a fantastic picture of him with the kids. I'm heading out the door for a docs appointment with my son or I would have checked it out myself, but you can find enlistment details on the free search engine familysearch.org. Good luck with your search. I feel well proud of the family that sheltered him from the storm.
I do not have full access to worldwide databases on Ancestry but it does allow me reduced access to certain databases. In saying that searching US (Ancestry) areas I came across: All U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 results for Wiley Young Wiley B Young year location date Mississippi Mississippi Wiley A Young year location date Mississippi Mississippi Wiley A Young Jr year location date Virginia Virginia Wiley B Young year location date Arkansas Missouri Plus - All U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 results for Wiley Young Wiley Jack Young date city, Wayne, Georgia So any further details that may be around, in letters, postcards or anything may help you narrow down the search for him TD Edited to rearrange the page set up
Thank you both, much appreciated! Yes, it's quite a heart warming story and hopefully I can find some more out about him. David
David, I've sent you on a wild goose chase. You get WW1 info and U.S. census returns at familysearch.org. Sorry my mind wasn't up to speed this morning. It's the archives at findmypast that you get WW2 info. Think you get 14 day free trial there, need to double check if that gives you access to the world wide collection though. Had a quick look using its search engine and there's a few possibilities there also. Hope the link below works. search.findmypast.co.uk/results/united-states-records-in-military-armed-forces-and-conflict/and_second-world-war?firstname=wiley&lastname=young
David, I've sent you on a wild goose chase. No worries, I haven't had chance to follow this up properly yet anyway. Does anyone have any thoughts on the uniform in the photo at all? Is it just standard U.S. Army dress or is there anything distinctive about it?
David, it might be worth posting the story and Wiley's picture on the www.ww2f.com website also. It's more U.S. oriented.
