[Dan]

RELEASE NUMBER: 051213-04
DATE POSTED: DECEMBER 13, 2005

Special Forces legend honored during memorial service
By Paul Prince
U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Dec. 13, 2005) —The visionary and architect who branded the Army’s elite fighting force known as the “Green Berets” was honored here in a memorial service at the John F. Kennedy Chapel Dec. 13.

Approximately 150 family, friends, and comrades-in-arms paid tribute to Lt. Gen. William P. Yarborough, retired World War II veteran and legend among the U.S. Army Special Forces, during the service.

“When I first received the news, I thought to myself that another one of the giants of our profession has fallen,” said Gen. Doug Brown, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command. “America is safer today and will be tomorrow because of the contributions of Yarborough.”

Yarborough died Dec. 6, of natural causes near his home in Southern Pines, N.C., at the age of 93.

Staff Sgt. Brian Whitney, a Special Forces Soldier assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and Sgt. 1st Class James Cork, a Soldier assigned to the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, carried Yarborough’s remains into the chapel, where they were placed among Yarborough’s prized memorabilia representing his life: a bronze replica of the Green Beret he championed, the Yarborough knife, numerous awards and a picture taken of him with former President John F. Kennedy.

“What many people do not realize is that Yarborough was taking a risk with this picture of Kennedy. Yarborough was told by senior grade officers, ‘If you pull this stunt, you will not get another Star [promotion].’ He was a great risk taker,” said Rudy Gresham, a former military aide and family friend. Yarborough used Kennedy’s visit to promote the Green Beret as the official Special Forces headgear.

Yarborough was instrumental in creating the Special Forces community to include buildings and training areas.

“There was no other perfect place to have this service. This is the very chapel that Yarborough ordered to be built,” Gresham said.

Yarborough was a native of Seattle, Wash., and a 1936 graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

“He was a man that always saw opportunity instead of restriction,” said Maj. Gen. Virgil L. Packett, deputy commander, XVIII Airborne Corps.

A veteran of four combat jumps, Yarborough was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Italian Bronze Medal for Valor, Italian Cross for Valor, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Regimental Badge 3d Zouaves, Korean Order of Merit Second Class, Combat Infantry Badge, the Cambodian, Korean, Philippine, Thai and Vietnamese Parachutist Badges, and the Distinguished Unit Citation with Oak Leaf Cluster.

A bust of Yarborough is on display at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville, N.C.

-usasoc-