William P. Yarborough

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William P. Yarborough bigraphy, stories - American general

William P. Yarborough : biography

May 12, 1912 – December 6, 2005

Lieutenant General William Pelham Yarborough (May 12, 1912 – December 6, 2005) was a United States Army officer and a 1936 graduate of West Point. Yarborough designed the US Army’s parachutist badge, paratrooper or ‘jump’ boots, and the airborne jump uniform. He is known as the ‘Father of the Modern Green Berets.’Zimmerman, p. 11 He is descended from the Yorkshire House of Yarborough. Yarborough is a distant cousin to such British noble figures as the Baron Deramore and Lord Alvingham.

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Service in Europe, US, and Cambodia

In June 1945 the 473d Infantry Regiment was deactivated and Yarborough, remaining in Europe, was named as Provost Marshal; first of the 15th Army Group, and later of the U.S. Forces in Austria and the Vienna Area Command. In the latter position he organized the famous Four Power International Patrol of Russian, French, British, and American military police.

From 1947 to 1949 Yarborough served as Director of the Department of Troop Information and Education at the Armed Forces Information School, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. In 1950 he returned to Europe for the third time to attend the British Staff College at Camberley, England. Upon graduation he was assigned to the NATO Plans Section of the Joint American Military Advisory Group to Europe, stationed in London. He entered the Army War College as a student in 1952 and after graduation served on its faculty for three years.

In 1956 he became Deputy Chief of the U. S. Military Advisory and Assistance Group to Cambodia. He remained in this assignment until he returned to the U.S. Army War College for a temporary tour prior to assuming command of the 1st Battle Group, 7th Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia, later moving it to Aschaffenburg, Germany. Leaving the Battle Group in 1958, he commanded the 66th Counterintelligence Corps Group in Stuttgart for two years until his reassignment to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

World War II

In July 1942, Major Yarborough was selected by General Mark Clark to be his Airborne Advisor and in that capacity accompanied General Clark to England. As a working member of the London Planning Group, he developed the initial concept and plan for the airborne phase of the North African Invasion.Devlin, pp. 138–144 When the Paratroop Task Force departed Land’s End, England on November 7, 1942, Yarborough as executive officer accompanied it on its flight over Spain toward its target objectives in Algeria. This was the longest operational flight ever made by parachute troops. In the course of the ensuing action the airplane in which he was flying was shot down by Vichy French fighter aircraft over the Sebkra d’Oran.Devlin, pp. 152–160 He participated in combat operations to capture Tafaroui Airdrome in Algeria. A week later, Yarborough parachuted into Youks les Bains AirfieldDevlin, p. 172 near Tebessa, Algeria (near the Tunisian border) and fighting as part of a combined French and U.S. Paratroop Task Force in Tunisia until January 1943, when he returned to the United States.

In March 1943, Yarborough returned to North Africa as Commander of the 2d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, and led his unit through the Sicilian Invasion.Devlin, p. 327 He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in May. Following a disastrous battle at Tumminello Pass, Yarborough was relieved of his command by Major General Matthew Ridgway.Nordyke, p. 98 General Clark then had him assigned to his staff. During Operation Avalanche Yarborough served as the airborne officer of G-3, Fifth Army and organized the night drop zone to receive the latest elements of the 82d, which had flown from Sicily to relieve the beleaguered beachhead.

Just prior to the fall of Naples, Yarborough was given command of the 509th Parachute Battalion.Devlin, p. 337 His unit, as part of Darby’s Ranger Force, made the initial landings at Anzio-Nettuno and held a key position on the beachhead for two months. Later under his command the 509th and two attached parachute battalions spearheaded the landings in southern France, landing on a mountaintop near Le Muy before dawn. Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo along the Côte d’Azur fell to the parachutists who then turned northward into the Maritime Alps to protect the right flank of the U.S. Seventh Army as it moved north.