Yarnall Genealogy

 Early Years  Before Military Married Years Retirement Years

Thomas Vincent Yarnall Jr - Military Years
Fort Jackson Physical Training
Tom's career in the Army started with a train ride from Philadelphia, PA to Fort Jackson, SC. Basic training was hot and hard. Tom almost did not pass the rifle range test. If you failed that test you had to repeat the eight weeks of basic training. Some of the "good old boys" from Arkansas helped him control his tendency to flinch. They taught him how to pull back smoothly on the trigger.
Fort Jackson Testing
There were written tests to take at Ft. Jackson. Tom was given an option to go to officer's candidate school because of his scores. He preferred to serve only two years instead of the four years required if he became an officer. An aptitude for electronics emerged from the tests. The physics courses in high school and college probably helped. As most of Tom's "new friends" were heading off to an infantry or artillery assignment after basic training, he was sent to Ft. Monmouth, NJ to prepare for an assignment in the Signal Corps. There he was to be taught to repair radio transmitters.
Fort Monmouth Specialty Training
US 52 487 598 came back from basic training to visit his folks before going to Fort Monmouth. A Marksmanship metal is the only metal on his uniform. In 1955 he was just a plain old "Private" in the Army like his great grandfather William H Yarnall back in 1863.

On the right is a picture of Tom's brothers when they came to visit him at Fort Monmouth. In the background is Tom's "new car" in 1955 - a 1946 Chevrolet! It replaced his 1939 Dodge that was his method of travel from 1950 until 1955. He was able to visit his family because Springfield was only about 70 miles from Ft. Monmouth.

Being assigned for transmitter repair training in New Jersey was close enough for Tom to continue trying to impress Polly for the next eight weeks with visits to Glenside, PA. He did not succeed. He left a picture with her just prior to when he went overseas.

His training at Ft Monmouth went very well. He learned about radio transmitters that had a variety of vacuum tubes in their circuitry. An electrical engineer from the University of Wisconsin (Tom Jones) and a guy who had training at an electronics vocational school in Brooklyn, NY (John Kaye) graduated number one and two in the class of twelve.
Reward Was His Choice of Assignment
Tom (an economics major at a liberal arts college) was a surprising third in the class. There were older regulars who had been working in the Signal Corps for years and were back for refresher training. They obviously did not try very hard. They partied a lot. The top three in the class were allowed to pick their assignment from a list of openings available. Tom Jones (#1) picked Taiwan. John Kaye (#2) and Tom (#3) picked Berlin, Germany. John and Tom did not have to pack much for their trip to Germany. He went from Ft. Monmouth to Ft. Dix for his flight to Germany. This was even closer to his home in Springfield, PA.
Berlin - Andrews Barracks
 The trip to Germany was by plane to Frankfort and by train to Berlin. New arrivals (about 60 of us) were lined up at attention near the flag pole of Andrews. The company commander (Captain Ailes) said, "All those who can type, step forward." Tom was one of a few who did.

He was told he would be the new company clerk. As company clerk, Tom had his pass all the time. He did not need to request permission to have it. He could go off base to see the various parts of Berlin - the war damaged and the rebuilt. He worked in an office with the Captain and his staff. Soldiers needed their pass to leave the base. Tom issued those passes. Tom did not go to any transmitter sites except to see what they looked like.

His office was on the first floor of a large building where many soldiers were quartered. He walked downstairs to go to work. It was two stories high.

There was an enclosed Olympic-sized swimming pool available on the grounds.

The rooms were very similar to a nice college campus dormitory room. It was better than the dorms at Muhlenberg College. The toilet and shower facilities were down a large hallway.

John Kaye and Tom shared one of these rooms. Nearby was a nice golf course and a large recreational park. Hard to believe it was a military assignment. Nothing like the duty that great granddad William H. Yarnall had in the Civil War in 1863-4.

Andrews Barracks will be remembered for the unique forces it housed over the years. Aside from providing a home for U.S. Army Security Forces in Berlin for four decades, it also housed the military police of Berlin Command. It was also home for the last racially segregated unit in the U.S. Army, the 7800th Infantry Platoon, a crack drill team composed entirely of African Americans. Older Berliners remember the 298th Army Band that performed at many events in the city and the 20th (later the 42nd) Engineer Company that built playgrounds throughout the American Sector. Andrews Barracks was home to them and our Signal Corps unit.

View from the air. Building 906 is slightly left of center. Swimming pool building is on the right. My room was in building 906 on the second floor. My office was on the first floor of building 906.

The highlights of the history of this facility are these:
  • Constructed in 1873-74 as a German military academy
  • In 1920 it became the Institute for Education
  • In 1933 it became the SS headquarters
  • In 1945 it became a US Army base
  • In 1993 it became part of the German Federal Archives

I did not swim much, but we could go as often as we wanted. This was an addition to the facility in 1936 for the Olympics. The Olympic-sized pool was constructed for the 1936 games on a site where a gymnasium once stood. It is a world quality facility with a capacity of 1.2 million gallons, measuring 50 meters long by 25 meters wide and ranging from eight to 15 feet deep. It also sports a 50-meter track and a 10-meter diving platform. It exists today as a members only sport club.		 Andrews barracks (see red dot below) was located on Finkenstein Allee in the Lichterfelde section of the Steglitz borough in the American sector of Berlin. The airport was in Tempelhof borough of Berlin. East Germany surrounded the city of Berlin and was controlled by the Russians when I was there in 1956. There were four sectors of Berlin - French, Russian, British, and USA.
Munich
After six months Tom was transferred to the Finance Corps because there was a need for people with accounting knowledge. In Munich Tom and his Finance Corps buddies lived in an apartment building next to the overseas University of Maryland women's dorm building. These rooms in the apartment had larger closets. He again worked in an office. He helped prepare payrolls for the troops located at facilities throughout Europe.

Tom could ski at Garmish, attend Fasching parties, and drink at the Haufbrauhaus. What a great city! He got to play on a championship basketball team in the league that was organized for the military personnel. He was a starting guard and playmaker.

In November 1956 Tom experienced a moment of excitement when he was given a rifle, ammunition, and a gas mask with orders to wear his helmet and board trucks headed for Hungary.

The units in Munich were to help with the "Hungarian Uprising". After two hours of traveling in trucks toward Austria, the mission was aborted and we went back to Munich.

We had a few extra beers that night.
I found out later why America did not act in Hungary: The United States asked Austria for freedom of passage to get to Hungary, but Vienna refused transit by land or even use of its air space. The United States had no plan for dealing with any major uprising behind the Iron Curtain.
At the end of Tom's military assignment in Munich, the German folks from Munich and the finance corps military personnel who worked in the office with Tom had a great final visit to the Haufbrauhaus. Saying goodbye to many friends was observed by an editor of a small newspaper (The Star News) from a town in Wisconsin.
Vacation of a Lifetime
Tom saved all of his leave time so he and a very good friend, Charlie Shaver, could take a 21-day trip through Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, and Ireland. They played golf at St. Andrews. Tom had only three pars in 72 holes. His scores were 116, 116, 114, and 115. Each day the weather got colder and the winds got stronger. It was wise to take some pictures on the first day. We had one clear day with mild winds. Rain came on the last day.
Charlie and Tom (in above picture) saw many sights in Paris, Dublin, and London. They got to see the Queen's birthday celebration. It was the largest parade Tom had ever seen.

They lost touch with each other when they got out of the military. In February 2014 Tom spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to find Charlie. Many earlier tries were futile. This time Tom found a 78 year-old Charles Marshall Shaver in Jensen Beach, FL. Tom called the number and it was the right Shaver! They had a terrific chat. Charlie did not have a computer so they could not do email. They agreed to stay in touch once a month by phone.
Charlie owned a little BMW car that he bought in Germany. It was called an Isetta.

It had four wheels with eight-inch rims, two at the front and two closer together at the rear. It had a motor cycle engine.

On our 21-day trip we got about 70 miles to the gallon way back in the late 1950s.

It was a two-seater with a place for luggage behind the seats. It had one door in the front that had the steering wheel, instrumentation, and the windshield in it. It opened forward to get in and out of the vehicle. No gas gauge, but an auxiliary half gallon tank.

This was a way to get to many places in and around Munich.
Here is a day in May.
Honorably Discharged
After Tom received his honorable discharge from the US Army in the fall of 1957 he started looking for employment. This was a challenge because there was a downturn in the economy at that time.

He had corresponded with Polly while he was in the Army and knew a job had to be obtained if he was going to make any headway in his pursuit of her. At first his search was in the New York City area because she was employed by 17 Magazine in NYC. He was looking at large companies who might want management trainees with an economics degree.

After many interviews with many companies, Tom finally was offered employment as a "detail man" for the Mead Johnson Company. That means he would be a sales rep. It also meant he could get engaged.

He was told to locate in or near Altoona, PA. His sales territory consisted of 11 counties of doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies in central-western Pennsylvania. He was to promote the use of the Mead Johnson products.
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