Soldiers from each of the seven Special Forces Groups, from the 18th Airborne Corps, the U.S. Army Band and the 82nd Airborne Chorus, family and friends filed into the chapel at Fort Myer for a brief service before interment.
Lt. Gen Robert W. Wagner, commander of the United States Army Special Operations Command; YarboroughÂ’s longtime aide and friend Rudy Gresham; and Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, surgeon general of the United States, spoke of a modest man whose legacy lives on, whose manifold contributions spread around the world.
In a special section, ThailandÂ’s Crown Prince Maha Vajira-longkorn sat with a contingent from his country that came to pay respects and gratitude. They had flown 12 hours around the world to attend YarboroughÂ’s services at Arlington, and returned home Saturday.
Yarborough and the princeÂ’s father became close friends when the general completed exhaustive studies on the state of insurgencies in Thailand and Latin America.
The young prince came to North Carolina and passed the tough Special Forces Qualification Course. His family stayed in Southern Pines at the Yarboroughs’ home on Massachusetts Avenue as the prince went through Robin Sage and SERE (Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape — challenging survival training designed to prepare soldiers for the possibility of being shot down and captured).
Beneath the vaulting dome of the chapel at Fort Myer, on the edge of the rolling hills of Arlington, the congregation rose.
Outside, the sound of a U.S. Army Band fanfare gave way to rolling drums, then the rhythmic clack, clack, clack of marching feet as an honor guard entered the chapel to bring to a small table down front a folded flag and a brass 105 mm Howitzer shell containing YarboroughÂ’s cremated remains.
For many years, that shell, heavily weighted with lead, had stood in the hallway at YarboroughÂ’s Southern Pines home, a receptacle for umbrellas. Yarborough had requested his ashes be placed in it for burial.
It isnÂ’t something they normally do. Yarborough was special.
“Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light…” sang the 82nd Airborne Division Chorus, flown to Washington for the service — not usual duty for the chorus — but Yarborough was not a usual man. From the earliest days of paratroop experiments, he was involved. His hand touched every part of airborne: he worked out the designs for jump uniforms and jump boots. With help from his wife, he designed the airborne insignia, the famous “jump wings” of the parachutist’s badge — and patented the design to protect it until its official adoption.
He developed the initial concept and plan for the airborne phase of the World War II invasion of North Africa, then as executive officer went with that task force on its flight over Spain toward target objectives in Algeria — the longest operational flight ever made by parachute troops.
His plane was shot down in the ensuing action. He subsequently fought in combat, jumping near Tedessa.
As commander of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Yarborough led his unit through the invasion of Sicily. Landing at Salerno, Italy, D-Day as airborne officer of G-3, Fifth Army, Yarborough organized the night drop zone for the 82nd.
Just before Naples fell, he commanded the 509th, and his unit — part of Darby’s Rangers Force — made the first landings at Anzio, holding key positions on that beachhead.
As a battle-formed warrior with an inventive mind, Yarborough would go on to become one of the most influential military minds of the 20th century.
In a brief film, made when he was 93, Yarborough simply said how proud he was to have been a member of such a group as Special Forces — all of whom, because of him, wear the Green Beret and carry a combat knife that bears his name.
Stars gleamed and glinted from uniformed shoulders of many a general officer who came to pay their respects to the first commander of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, now officially designated by the Army as “father of the Green Beret.”
Wagner had just assumed command of U.S. Army Special Operations Dec. 6, 2005, the day Yarborough died.
“He spent 40 years in uniform,” Wagner said. “I am humbled to be here. William Yarborough was more than a great warrior. He was a loving husband, and a loving father to Patricia and Lee, and lived in a wonderful North Carolina community where he involved himself in community life.
“Today, men and women in uniform pay respects to him. Some of you were born long after he retired, but his spirit lives in you. Pride is not a word General Yarborough would ever use to refer to his accomplishments — but he would be proud of you.”
Carbona told how Yarborough once said he was proud he was of his former Green Beret medic who rose to become Surgeon General, adding “but it took you 30 years to do it!”
Outside, following the memorial, a riderless horse waited, empty boots reversed in the stirrups.
A flag-draped ceremonial coffin rested on a caisson, the gun-carriage Army traditional battlefield hearse. Across the hills of Arlington, a sea of white marble stones seemed to stand at attention as the cortege wound its way to the grave site.
There, two flags were folded and presented to Yarborough’s family — one to his son, the other to his daughter — by commanders of Special Operations, and Special Forces.
On a distant hill, a Howitzer fired 19 times, followed by the rifle salute in three volleys of seven rifles, and then “Taps.”
John Chappell can be reached at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.
