This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Yarborough, William Pelham, LTG.
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Contact Info
Last Address Southern Pines, NC
Date of Passing Dec 06, 2005
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Born in 1912 in Seattle, he graduated from West Point in 1936 and served in the military for 35 years. He held high-level posts in the Army’s airborne, special operations and intelligence branches.
Yarborough was made commander of the Army’s Special Warfare Center, now the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in 1961 as the Vietnam War was increasing the demand for stealth combat skills. He retired in 1971.
In 1941, he designed the paratrooper boot and uniform, and the winged insignia given to qualified paratroopers, according to Yarborough’s official Army biography.
He led paratroopers into battle in North Africa, in Salerno and Anzio in Italy, and in southern France during World War II.
After the war, Yarborough was in charge of police activities in Vienna, where he organized patrols of U.S., Soviet, French and British troops.
As head of the Special Warfare Center in 1962, Yarborough tapped an old West Point classmate who was a military aide to Kennedy to press his case to allow the green beret to become part of the uniform of Army Special Forces soldiers.
Kennedy was visiting Ft. Bragg to see a demonstration of Special Forces units and said he wanted to see the troops in the berets.
Yarborough’s military service also is commemorated with a knife named after him and issued only to current or former Green Berets. Each knife bears a serial number registering its owner.
Other Comments:
The Story Behind the Green Beret:
The green beret was originally designated in 1953 by Special Forces Maj. Herbert Brucker, a veteran of the OSS. Later that year, 1st Lieutenant Roger Pezelle adopted it as the unofficial headgear for his A-team, Operational Detachment FA-32. They wore it whenever they went to the field for prolonged exercises. Soon it spread throughout all of Special Forces, although the Army refused to authorize its official use.
Finally, in 1961, President Kennedy planned to visit Fort Bragg. He sent word to the Special Warfare Center commander, Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear their berets for the event. President Kennedy felt that since they had a special mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the rest. Even before the presidential request, however, the Department of Army had acquiesced and teletyped a message to the Center authorizing the beret as a part of the Special Forces uniform.
When President Kennedy came to Fort Bragg October 12, 1961, General Yarborough wore his green beret to greet the commander-in-chief. The president remarked, "Those are nice. How do you like the green beret?" General Yarborough replied: "They're fine, sir. We've wanted them a long time."
A message from President Kennedy to General Yarborough later that day stated, "My congratulations to you personally for your part in the presentation today ... The challenge of this old but new form of operations is a real one and I know that you and the members of your command will carry on for us and the free world in a manner which is both worthy and inspiring. I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead."
In an April 11, 1962, White House memorandum for the United States Army, President Kennedy showed his continued support for the Special Forces, calling the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."
To honor his memory, Special Forces soldiers pay their respects to late President Kennedy by laying a wreath and green beret on his tomb every November twenty-second, the date of his assassination.
