Lt. Col. Harry F. Yuill, Commander, Saumur Signal Depot,
1963
All info courtesy of his son, Mark Yuill
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Following comments are by Mark
Yuill
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your website. It is obvious that it was a labor of love, and I appreciate being allowed to share in the memories.
I have a different perspective, being a dependant and living there during my freshman year of high school before my father was
transferred to Orleans. My memories of the depot are quite sketchy and most of them focused around the housing area out near St.
Cyr, particularly since I was shipped off to school in Poitiers from Sunday night to Friday each week. Perhaps my most enduring memory was the Friday evening basketball game we were attending in the gym when the announcement was made about President Kennedy's death. The after-game celebration in the Officer's Club was a short and somber one that day. I'm glad to see the positive memories you've compiled for all of us. I have learned much more about the town and depot through your work than I did actually living there.
I did manage to dig up a couple of items that may be of interest. The first page of the French employee
newsletter welcoming my father as the new depot commander in 1963, and a not-so-good photo of our house in the housing area.
The car in the picture was our family vehicle, a 1955 Buick Roadmaster, which we bought new in New York after returning to the states from a tour in Germany and promptly drove across country to San Francisco. It was with us for 11 years and I suspect we kids spent more time growing up in it traveling from post to post, than we did in any of the government housing during those years. That of course is an exaggeration, but as any other military family knows, not much of one. Those were the days when families only had one car, and when my dad decided to replace it in 1966 with a new Mercedes, the Buick was sold to some lucky GI in Orleans and stayed in France when we left. By the way, I still have the Mercedes today. It too became too full of memories to part with.
As far as my father's career is concerned, after a year as the depot commander, he caught the eye of the fellow with two stars on his shoulder who commanded COMZ, and was
transferred to Orleans as the Division Assistant Chief of Staff-G1. That's actually where he retired and we moved back to San Francisco in late 1966. He enjoyed retirement until he passed away in 1989. My mother still lives there today. It might be interesting to note, that after growing up with an Infantry officer, I chose to spend my own military experience as a Signal Corps officer.
Mark Yuill
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