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Waddy Young Watch -- Research Notes

Young - When Football Went to War.jpg
Young - WikiPedia.jpg

This is probably the most historic watch I have ever found. The life and death of Walter "Waddy" Young -- All-American football player; NFL and Army All-Stars player, and WW2 hero -- exemplifies the "Greatest Generation" legend. Waddy's achievements are extensively documented on the Internet -- a WikiPedia entry; a section in the book "When Football Went to War"; and in hundreds of stories & newspapers articles. It is difficult to believe that all of these accomplishments spanned just 28 years (1916-1945).

I found this watch while surfing eBay in March 2018 for "military watches".  I searched Google for "Army All Stars 1942", and only a few articles / images were returned; one was an image of a newspaper article and team roster at "http://www.packershistory.net/1942PACKERS/PRESEASON-GAME3.htm" for a 1942 "Green Bay vs Army All Stars" game. One of players names for the "Western All Stars" was "Walter Young" -- bingo!!!! A Google search of "Walter Young" brought back many football players;  but when I finally queried "Walter R. Young football" -- I hit the jackpot!  Dozens of articles were listed -- and it was now clear that he was known by his nickname "Waddy"; a further search under "Waddy Young" brought back even more listings. At this point, I knew I had found a very special watch -- and I bought it immediately.

It has taken over a year to fully research Waddy Young. Continuing searches in Google Chrome and the "Newspapers.com" website were critical for the bulk of the research; over 80 pages of documentation has been prepared.  

 

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