Interview with General William Yarborough

From his Home in Seven Pines, North Carolina

Conducted by Andrew Reed
3/505th PIR (AHA)

Copyright 2003 Andrew Reed All Rights Reserved
Used with permision by Andrew Reed


YARBOROUGH: We'll see what my memory's like. You know it's a long time ago.

REED: During your experience in World War II and with the 509th did you use pathfinders much?

YARBOROUGH: Sure we did! I think we pioneered the pathfinders.

REED: Was that in North Africa or later?

YARBOROUGH: Well, in South France surely. Nobody used them in North Africa. We were just feeling our way there.

REED: And a little confusion to go along with it.

YARBOROUGH: A lot of confusion.

REED: Speaking of confusing jumps; I was talking with Lt. Charles McKinney who served with you in the 509th,..

YARBOROUGH: Sure, yes.

REED: He mentioned that the worst jump in terms of confusion was the Avellino jump. Largely due to poor drops and inefective pathfinder teams.

YARBOROUGH: Well they looked on it that way but the end product of it was that it confused the hell out of the Germans and it interupted the flow of replacements into the beachhead. The Germans didn't know how many there were there (Meaning paratroopers). Although it looks pretty befuddled from the point of view of the 509, the end product was worth it. Most of them got back,...99 percent of them.

REED: Did you have a large roll in the planning of that jump?

YARBOROUGH: Yes I did. I was the guy that recomended to Mark Clark that we do that at Avellino.

REED: Did you ever consider it a "suicide mission"?

YARBOROUGH: Well, it was a logical mission for parachute troops at that period. The beachhead was damn near at the point of being kicked off and anything we could do to interupt the flow of German replacements was a good thing to do. You know, in the geometry of warfare sometimes you have to improvise, and things that you'd never thought were going to happen. You might have to take advantage of the situation. That's what we did there you see. It was not a long term plan. The fact that we had airborne troops in reserve to put anywhere we wanted on the beachhead was good planning in the beginning.

REED: In talking to McKinney, he mentioned that General Clark got some heat over that mission. Did you experience any of that?

YARBOROUGH: Every commander got flak over a hell of a lot of things because the art of war is not an exact science. You can question judgement later on and all kinds of things that commanders knew that the people that critiques him didn't know. So sure he got a little flak. He got flak crossing the Rapido River too. Well, there was a National Guard outfit that couldn't make it and so they took high casualties. Of course, the commander was criticized. In war there's enough blame to go around,. I can assure you.

REED: I'm sure there was a lot of finger pointing back in the States as well.

YARBOROUGH: Especially the guys who weren't there and don't know what the situation was.

REED: In considering jumps like Avellino or North Africa, do you feel the success of the paratroopers was due to their training or anything in general?

Yarborough: Absolutely! Our training in the beginning was more like Special Forces. We always had the idea that where ever we went we were not going to arrive with everything we were supposed to have. When you go in by parachute you can't be sure and therefore each guy was trained to operate individually. So the roots of what Special Forces became were in the early airborne. Not airborne but parachute outfits. You know when they began to talk about airborne they were talking about people who road in gliders and all the rest of them. So the early parachute troops were unique in that sense.

REED: When did you get involved with military parachuting? 1941?

YARBOROUGH: (Laughs) Well, you know young people are always looking for a challenge. The Russians had already begun parachute operations. Of course, the Germans went into Crete and all of that. It appealed to a young guy. All of the people that went into it in those early days had the same sort of motivation. We figured the paratroops were going to be hard to get into and easy to get out of. So it attracted a lot of damn good people right from the beginning. It had a little bit of elan to it.

REED: I have asked that question to a lot of airborne veterans and most say they just wanted to be with the best.

YARBOROUGH: Absolutely! Sure! And we washed out a lot of people you know. If a guy refused to jump he was out of the outfit immediately.

Reed: I have also read that you are the one who designed the jump wings?

YARBOROUGH: (Slow and modest tone)Yes I did.

REED: Where did the idea come from?

YARBOROUGH: Well, I was sent to Washington to get a design for the parachute wings and told not to come back without it. I drew a half a dozen different models. It could be nothing like the Air Corps wings. The prohibition was there and it had to be something completely different. So of all of the designs I drew, that one was approved. I had the patent on it for, I guess it was, eight years or something like that to keep it from being replaced by people who didn't deserve it. I came back with 350 of them. I had to wait until they were made by Bailey, Banks, and Biddle (Editor's note-a Philadelphia, PA business.) The great jewelry manufacturers. So that is the story of the wings. We needed them because they were a morale factor. In the beginning, the Army wanted to give us something you hang on your marksmanship badge that said "parachutist". You know, When you get expert rifle and all that. "pistol!" That shows how imaginative they were at the higher levels.

REED: Was it your idea to come up with a special badge?

YARBOROUGH: Not just mine. A lot of people had that feeling you know. The Air Corps had their's and submarine types had their's. It just seemed logical you know.

REED: You must be very proud. It's obviously a very recognizable symbol.

YARBOROUGH: Well, I was proud to be a member of that outfit (The airborne) and to be with all those wonderful guys. I tell ya, You know in those days even seeing an airplane was a big deal. Getting in one was something else and jumping out of it, you know, Quite an accomplishment!

REED: Oh yes! I do modern parachuting and my family can't believe or understand why I would want to do that.

YARBOROUGH: (Laughs) Well, they would have to do it to understand whats its all about, the kind of guys that do that you know.

REED: Speaking about the guys of the 509th, In talking with Lt. McKinney he felt that you were the best commander of them all.

YARBOROUGH:Well, He's biased. (Interviewers note- We both laugh at that remark.)

REED:Why? Did you promote him or something?

YARBOROUGH: No I didn't but we were like a big family. you know, A big team. Each guy had confidence in the guy next to him and apparently they had some confidence in the command. Without it you don't get anywhere.

REED: Out of all the airborne mission you planned, or were a part of, which was the most successful?

YARBOROUGH: I think the South of France. Obviously none of those things is perfect because of all the forces that go into trying to make it not perfect. In other words we had to drop through clouds to get to the South of France. We couldn't see the ground until we hit it. Hell! we were supposed to be flexible and we were.

REED: Since World War II many have argued that we should have stuck to small ariborne units like a battalion while others feel that airborne divisions were more effective. What do you feel?

YARBOROUGH: Well, it depends on the strategic concept and the world situation,..how we intend to use them and so on. My own feeling is that the battalion is about the right size for an airborne outfit. Getting much bigger than that. Its difficult to drop them in one place, surely, and uh,........Well there are a lot of considerations that go into it. The organization has got to reflect stategic concepts as I said. How they intend to use them.

REED: Terrain has something to do with it I'm sure.

YARBOROUGH: Yeah, Sure.

REED: A lot of people have argued that we should have stayed with the battalion sized unit during the war.

YARBOROUGH: Well, (Chuckles) a lot of people don't know. And you know marshalling now is a completely different problem than it was when we were doing it. Over head reconnaissance (today) of the enemy would take a hell of a toll on a whole bunch of airplanes lined up getting ready to go into operation you see. We could hide it to a certain degree but that can't be done today. You get a hundred airplanes on four or five take off aerodromes and the enemy's gonna know about it.

REED: Oh yes, with satelites and cameras in space.

YARBOROUGH: Sure. Those things make the business a little different than it was.

REED: I imagine that during your career the Army changed a great deal due to technology.

YARBOROUGH: Oh yes! The only thing that remains the same is the heart of the airborne guy. That is worth its weight in gold!

REED: Really?

YARBOROUGH: Well, The way you pick them you know! The training they go through and the comraderie and all that means that they're flexible as hell!

REED: Since you designed the jump wings I have seen numerous examples of how people have tried to copy or imitate them. Have you noticed that?

YARBOROUGH: (Chuckles) No I haven't. Well It is flattery if they do.

REED: I have conducted a fair amount of research on the 509th and think that it was a pretty amazng unit.

YARBOROUGH: Well, It was. It was unique in a lot of ways. First Medal of Honor (in the airborne) among other things.

REED: Yes. Paul Huff. Correct?

YARBOROUGH: Yeah. At Anzio. Wait a minute,..Was it Anzio or Venafro? I guess it was Anzio.

REED: How as the Anzio campaign for you personally? A lot of veterans I've talked with say that it was the most difficult.

YAROROUGH: It was one of the tougher campaigns the U.S. Army ever had. We damn near got kicked off the beachhead.

REED: What made it so difficult? The terrain? Time of year?

YARBOROUGH:The balance of forces. Also the terrain. The enemy had the high mountains all around the beachhead. They had the advantage of looking down upon us. Well, you gotta go into the history books on that one.

REED: I know that being on line and in combat for so many days in a row was costly.

YARBOROUGH: I came out of there with about half of my battalion. We took a lot of casuaties.

REED: How did you feel when the 509th was broken up in '45? Were you aware it was happening?

YARBOROUGH: I was and I tried to do something about it and couldn't. You know, the pressures of warfare, all of the things the commander has to look at; get replacements, missions of outfits. A whole hell of a lot of things sometimes fly in the face of your feelings and your loyalties and all that kind of thing. As I said, war is an inexact science. Its more of an art.

REED: It must have been exciting and challenging to have been one of the first planners of airborne operations in World War II.

YARBOROUGH: Well, I studied the German experience, The Russian experience and that had a certain amount of precedence you know,..for what we did.

REED: Well Thank you so much for letting me talk with you again. Its always a real pleasure and an honor.

YARBOROUGH: Well I hope I've been of some help. Memory's a little bit thin at this time of life you know. (Interviewers note:-At the time of this interviewer he was 90 years old!) Well I wish you the best,. Geronimo!

REED: Yes! Geronimo!

YARBOROUGH: (Cuckles) Goodbye!