He was wounded twice, receiving the Purple Heart, and was highly decorated for valor with the Distinguished Service Cross.

On Memorial Day 1921, four unknowns (U.S. soldiers killed in combat who were not identifiable) were exhumed from four World War I American cemeteries in France.

Younger selected the Unknown Soldier of World War I from four identical caskets at the city hall in Châlons-en-Champagne, France, on October 24, 1921.

In his own words, as he told the story to civic and veterans groups, in an average of one a week from the time, this is what happened: "At first it was an idea that we (the six soldiers) were to be just pallbearers, but when we lined up in the little makeshift chapel, Major Harbold, the officer in charge of grave registrations, told us, 'One of you men is to be given the honor of selecting the body of the Unknown Soldier.'

[1] National officers of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars accompanied the coffin to the cemetery.