Brigadier Peter Young
D.S.O., M.C., M.A., F.S.A.

Obituary

by Donald Featherstone

As the archetypal English soldier they do not come much bigger in life than did Peter young, who died in early September. His deeds as possibly Britain's most decorated soldier of World War Two, are well known and legendary. Quietly disarm in& his steely character and military juile came to the fore on the wargames table, where his scenarios invariably placed his opponent at a disadvantage, as when having to employ half one's army rescuing your General's Mistress from behind enemy lines! Too large to reach across, his huge wargames table had a hinged trapdoor in its centre, through which the Brigadier's beaming face would emerge to move his troops, adversely disturbing those of his opponent in the process. He was one of the very earliest British wargamers, battling with Captain Sachs and Charles Grant at pre - World War Two wargaming meetings of the British Model Soldier Society. In 1969, in conjunction with Colonel J.P. Lawford, he wrote CHARGE! perhaps one of the most charming books our hobby has seen since Wells' LITTLE WARS and the basis for today's CHARGE PROJECT of the Seven Years War Association.

When he formed the SEALED KNOT - the first of the re-enactment societies - Peter Young achieved what all wargames dream of by replacing inanimate model soldiers with those who moved under their own volition. To me, the Brigadier represented the too-rare colour -and gallantry of World War Two, abundantly possessing the basic virtue of courage without which there can be no other virtues. I am honoured and proud to feel I was his friend and to have wargamed with him - our hobby- and the world -will not againseethe like of Peter Young.

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