World War II Service Archive of 101st Airborne Gordon W. Yates

World War II

Service Archive of Staff Sergeant Gordon W. Yates, who served as a radio operator for in the company headquarters of H Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II. Yates received the Silver Star for his efforts maintaining radio communications under enemy fire at the Battle of Opheusden, a part of the larger Battle of the Nijmegen Salient. The service archive consists of a scrap book kept by Yates, his STERLING Parachutist Badge inscribed To Angie Love,/Gordon, his parachute qualification certificate, Service Record Book, his shirt with technician stripes and 101st Airborne Division Patch, Mark 2 Paratrooper folding knife with 3.4" blade manufactured by G. SCHRADER/B PORT CT., M3 Fighting Knife in M8 Scabbard, mess tin, assorted photographs taken at reunions, Yates' membership card for The Airborne Association, his Bronze Star medal, a copy of the Holy Bible, and a large scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings set in a wood bound binder measuring 19x13x2.25". The lid of the scrapbook is decorated with the {Parachutist Badge} in silver paint and black ink flanked by a sand painted {101st Airborne} insignia on the left and the word CURRAHEE to the right above the logo for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. A portion of the archive fits in a green painted Second World War Era German medical kit that retains the packing guide in German on the inner lid. The top of the box has a label pasted on reading MRS. G.W. YATES above her then address.

Gordon W. Yates served in Company H of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, aka The Screaming Eagles. Yates qualified as a parachutist on January 2, 1943, and served as the radio operator for his unit through the Liberation of France and the Battle of the Bulge. He jumped with the 506th on D-Day, and continued to serve through Operation Market Garden and the Siege of Bastogne. For his actions during the Battle of Opheusden, in October 1944, he received the Silver Star with the award order specifying that "The artillery barrage of the enemy was so heavy and continuous that communication lines were being severed repeatedly. Sergeant Yates worked laboriously under intense enemy fire to repair the lines. He remained on the front lines until the unit supply of ammunition became dangerously low. Despite the intensity of the enemy fire, he voluntarily returned over open terrain, secured mortar and machine gun ammunition from the ammunition dump, and, burdened with ammunition and food for part of the fighting force, returned safely to the front lines. His success in repairing vital lines of communication and securing ammunition under adverse conditions contributed greatly to the annihilation of the attacking enemy force." In addition to this citation, Yates received the Bronze Star Medal on June 27, 1945 for "Meritorious service in connection with military operations against the enemy in countries indicated," and the Purple Heart award on June 13, 1944. After the war, Yates became an active member of the the Arizona Eagles branch of the 101st Airborne Division Association, attending numerous events sponsored by that organization.

From the Collection of George Oldenbourg