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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

James Frederick Yardley (Jim) was born November 19, 1921 in Hatch, Utah to John A. and Loretta Stoney Yardley. In December of 1942 he volunteered to enter the Naval Aviation Training and was called into active duty on June 6th, 1943.
At that time, Jim's Naval Aviation training consisted of three months in "Pre-flight School" in San Louis Obispo, California, three months at the War Training School in Cotton Wood, Arizona, three months at Saint Mary's in Oakland, California, and three months in Livermore, California for Primary Training. From there Jim would have graduated and gone through Advanced Training which would have commissioned him as an officer and as an authorized pilot.
In the Primary Training, they flew Sterman or N to S, which was the Navy classification for a two-winged bi-plane. The plane had two cockpits and the trainee would fly in the rear cockpit with the motor in the front. At this time, Jim had 160 solo hours of flying. In order to graduate from Primary, you also needed to complete six hours of night flying. They called it flying by the "seat of the pants" meaning the trainees would fly visual contact without using a radio. During Jim's last hour of night flight in Primary Training, he circled in a sector for 1/2 hour, and then the group of trainees switched positions and "shot" landings and take-offs for 1/2 hour. After completing the exercise, the lights turned on below him, signaling the time to land. At this point, Jim remembers another plane coming right in front of him, cutting him out. Rather than hit the other plane, he abruptly turned up. As he did not have enough power, the plane spiraled nose first into the ground from about 400 feet.
The damage was so massive that some of the military personnel wrote "deceased" on the items they brought in from the crash. Thankfully, Jim did survive but suffered a fractured skull, a compound fracture on his right ankle, and his left arm was broken in two places with the bone split between them. He spent 6 months in the hospital until he was dispatched.
This November (2003), Grandpa Yardley will celebrate his 82nd birthday! Even with a new knee, he continues to playa wicked game of golf and travels all over the world. He has served as the Garfield County Commissioner for a number of terms, and then he was elected to, and served in the Utah State Legislature for about 14 years. On his 70th birthday, Wm. Rolfe Kerr, Commissioner of Higher Education sent him a birthday greeting, and in it he wrote: "I have been greatly impressed with the honesty and integrity with which you approach your legislative assignment ... my higher education colleagues and I trust you in your important public position in the State legislature. I hope your children and your grandchildren will read this and know that you are an example worthy of their emulation."
No one could have a greater or more honorable grandfather. He has served his country, and taught his family to do the same. It is a blessing to call Jim Yardley our grandpa.