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Home Was Never Like This

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Home Was Never Like This - subtitled The Yardley Diaries is just that - memoirs of an officer-soldier written in diary form. For that reason it is an irreplaceable piece of history.

Colonel Doyle R. Yardley was the executive officer of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion. The 509th was one of the first battalions formed in the fledgling United States Army Airborne and was the first paratrooper unit to see battle action in North Africa in late 1942. The 509th remained an independent battalion throughout the war and was never assigned to one of the 5 airborne infantry divisions.

What makes this diary particularly interesting and unique is that it is one on the few first-hand accounts of the airborne operations in North Africa as well the airborne drop on Avellino, Italy, on September 15, 1943. Colonel Yardley was wounded and captured in this action and the rest of his diary deals with his 16 months as a prisoner of war of the Germans in Oflag 64 in Szubin, Poland and his eventual escape.

This book was edited by a nephew and "proofread" by other family members from handwritten (in pencil) notes in multiple notebooks that somehow survived his incarceration as a POW and the long route of his escape aided by the advancing Russians. It reveals a great deal about the lives and attitudes of other prisoners and paratroopers and how they were affected by the war. The compilation ends with his accidental and untimely death at age 33. The book is indexed and easy to read and would be well received by those interested in the airborne in World War II.

John E. Nevola
Author of The Last Jump - A Novel of World War II