Newspapers: SALTSBURG GI's REMAINS FOUND AFTER 27 YEARS, Indiana Co Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Leslie Kammerdiener. lesliekamm@americanteleport.com USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied from the Indiana Gazette - Nov 1997 SALTSBURG GI's REMAINS FOUND AFTER 27 YEARS Written By CARL KOLOGIE Gazette Managing Editor SALTSBURG -- More than 27 years after he was declared missing in action in Cambodia, the remains of an Indiana County military officer will be brought back this week and he will be put to rest in his hometown cemetery. Last week the Saltsburg family of United States Army Capt. Robert M. Young was officially notified by government officials that a body located in Cambodia was, in fact, that of Capt. Young. Young's widow, Sharon Gritten Young Nelmes, of Saltsburg and his daughter, Heather Young of Gaithersburg, Md., had been notified several months ago that there was a possibility that the body of the military officer had been located and they were in the process of making positive identification. "I was amazed," said Sharon Nelmes, "that after all these years they could identify the body." His daughter, a database editor with the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C., has kept in close contact with John Madding of the Miliary Affairs Office, also located in Washington. "I never thought this was possible," said Heather Young, who was born in 1970 and never saw her father. "Even though we would get occasional updates on what was being done in regard to MIAs, including the prisoner of war camps they had located and searched." Young was one of the first wave of American troops involved in the war in Indochina. After graduation from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1967, where he was a Distinguished Military Student, Young served a short stint in Germany before his assignment to Vietnam in July of 1969. The invasion of Cambodia began in April of 1970 and on May 2, Young was aboard a helicopter that was downed by hostile fire somewhere in Cambodia. He survived the crash and became a prisoner of war. Based on the testimony of another survivor of that crash and a prisoner of war who`was released during Operation Homecoming after the war, Young was presumed dead. "Dan Maslowski, a survivor of the 'copter crash, got in touch with our family and it was basically his testimony that the Army declared the presumptive finding of death," said Sharon Nelmes. While a prisoner of war, Young was cited for meritorious action during a confrontation between the senior ranking officer of the prison camp, Lt. Col. Schrump, and the prison camp officials and cadre. Schrump had refused an order to make stakes for perimeter security of the prison camp that would serve as a deterent to prisoners in an attempt to escape. The colonel refused and was threatened and punished for many days and, although suffering from malaria, was refused medical treat- ment. According to the citation, Young endangered his own well-being by giving the colonel his full support by refusing to eat or drink until the camp cadre gave Col. Schrump food and water. After several days, the colonel was returned to his cell, given food and water and normal camp life was restored. For his courage, aggressiveness and leadership, Young was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, First Oak Leaf Cluster. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Silver Star. Young's remains were found approximately 200 miles from the site where the helicopter was reportedly shot down. Positive identification of Young was made at the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii after extensive testing through den- tal, forensics, DNA and anthropological testing. A 1963 graduate of Saltsburg High School, Young was president of the senior class, an honor student and involved in many extra-curricular activities. The family will receive friends from 8 to 8 p.m. Friday evening at the Saltsburg Presbyterian Church. A service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday followed by interment at the Edgewood Cemetery in Salts- burg with full military honors. An honor guard from Ft. Meade, Md., will perform the military honors. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Gray Stone Presbyterian Church Scholarship Fund, Leechburg, or the Saltsburg Free Library. The Curran funeral Home, Saltsburg, is in charge of arrangements.