Arthur Tallas Yeilding

Arthur Tallas Yeilding was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 24, 1918, to Charles W. and Gertrude S. Yeilding. He was the youngest of three sons, and his father operated a drugstore or pharmacy. Charles died in 1928 when Yeilding was just ten years old. Gertrude worked as a "Saleswoman" at a local drugstore to provide for her family after her husband's death. Yeilding graduated from Benson Polytechnical High School in Portland in 1936, but what he did during the two years following high school is unclear. He attended Washington State College (WSC) from 1938 to 1939 as a chemistry and chemical engineering major. He moved back to Portland and worked as a Maritime Seaman briefly before moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1940. On October 16, 1940, Yeilding enlisted in the Army Air Corps, where he trained as a fighter pilot. He was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 339th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group. They would later be assigned to the 13th Air Force. The 347th Fighter Group was officially formed on September 29, 1942 and activated on October 3rd of the same year. The United States strategy to defeat the Japanese in the Pacific is usually referred to as “island hopping.” It required the taking of particular strategically important islands in each island chain. One such island was Guadalcanal, which the United States attacked on August 7, 1942 and the 347th fighter group, including the 339th fighter squadron went into combat. After the successful seizure of Guadalcanal, Yeilding and his unit used the island as a base of operations to launch assaults on the rest of the Solomon Islands. From there they continued to attack New Georgia, the Russell Islands, and Bougainville throughout 1943. On December 26, 1944 the United States initiated “Operation Backhander,” an assault against Japanese held New Guinea. The attack on New Guinea carried through to January 16, 1944. Japanese forces on the island were forced to a part of the island called the Gazelle Peninsula, a defensive position they would hold to the end of the war. The Army Air Corp carried out bombing raids routinely over the Gazelle Peninsula and Cape Gazelle, actions for which the 347th Fighter Group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation in November 1944. The Japanese had fortified their end of the island with anti-aircraft guns, and their part of the island also contained an airfield from which they could launch their own fighters to defend their position from near-constant aerial assault, courtesy of Arthur and the Army Air Corp and navy pilots. On January 23, 1944, Arthur went on another raid in this region. He was shot down over Cape Gazelle. The circumstances of his death remain largely unknown; whether it was anti-aircraft guns or Japanese fighters that killed Arthur, no sources can specify, and tragically, his body was never found. However, Arthur’s actions throughout the years he served were vital to the United States' victory in the many battles that raged throughout the Pacific Theater. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Cemetery and Memorial in the Capital District of Manila in the Philippines, as well as the WSU World War II memorial located on Washington State University's main campus in Pullman, Washington