Home Was Never Like This
by Doyle R. Yardley
edited by Charles Turnbo
Order this book

Home Was Never Like This was written by Colonel Doyle R. Yardley, commander of the 509 Parachute Infantry Battalion - the first American parachute battalion to attack an enemy, making the longest airborne flight from Land's End, England to the Invasion of French North Africa. Col. Yardley was captured during the Invasion of Italy and spent 16 months as a prisoner of war in Oflag 64 in Szubin, Poland. Col. Yardley kept penciled entries of his experiences in England and as a POW, describing in details the events and the soldiers who were part of the war effort. He wrote "Home Was Never Like This" with the intention of publishing his memoirs after the war. Yardley escaped, leaving his journals buried behind in Oflag 64. They were miraculously returned to him after the war.

Unfortunately, shortly after his return to civilian life, Col. Yardley died. His diaries were kept in a forgotten footlocker until his nephew, Charles Turnbo, discovered them on the family farm. Charles dedicated his efforts to publishing "Home Was Never Like This" in memory of his uncle, all the soldiers of the 509, and those who served our country during WWII.

In his own words Colonel Yardley wrote: I hope to put down in black and white, in true, simple and frank language what the officers and men of the battalion thought and did while overseas, in or out of combat. How they acted, their gripes, and their complaints. And how, as typical Americans, they always found something funny to do - in spite of hardships and handicaps. I shall call this manuscript, "Home Was Never Like This," which carries on with the Yank as a prisoner of war, in a German POW camp in Poland. Uncle Doyle dedicated his book, "to all the boys of the old 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, to those four hundred and eighty who made the supreme sacrifice on foreign soils, to the boys and girls in our armed forces at home and abroad - God bless them all!"

His WWII American POW perspective reveals a heart-wrenching and often humorous look into his life and the lives of hundreds of others involved in or affected by the war.

A Word from Charles Turnbo, Editor
One day at my grandparent's house in Erath County, Texas, I discovered a small military footlocker. Grandma told me it belonged to my Uncle Doyle, her oldest son, who had died several years earlier.

Looking through the footlocker several years later, I found something I had missed before, a cache of small student notebooks filled with penciled entries, each neatly dated, detailing his military experiences during World War II. Now it is a privilege to offer his book, Home Was Never Like This.