World War II veteran and prisoner-of-war, career military officer, Salado school teacher and Salado school board trustee Jean Dupoy Tarbutton passed away on November 23, 2019 at the age of 99.
He was born on October 27, 1920 to James and Gladys Tarbutton.
Services are under the direction of Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home. Visitation will be 3 p.m. Saturday Dec. 7 at Salado United Methodist Church. Funeral service will follow at the Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Col. Tarbutton will be buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio on Dec. 9 at 11 a.m.
A full obituary will appear in next week’s Salado Village Voice as the family had not yet made that available as of presstime.
However, Salado Village Voice would like to share with its readers the story written by editor-in-chief Tim Fleischer for a special edition of the newspaper commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II about Col. Tarbutton and his brother Jack Tarbutton.
“Following in your brother’s footsteps.”
The Tarbutton brothers of Salado gave that phrase a whole new meaning during World War II.
Jack was shot down over Italy October 1944, captured and placed in a Frankfurt prisoner of war camp for 10 days of isolation and interrogation before being sent to his “permanent camp” at Stalag Luft 3.
Jean followed in his older brother’s footsteps when he was shot down over Berlin Dec. 5, captured and placed in the same Frankfurt camp, although Jack had already been transferred out of the camp.
Even though he’s two and half years younger, Jean led the way into the Air Force because he was single. “I was married and had a child,” said Jack. Jean earned his wings in October of 1942; Jack earned his March 1944.
Jean was on his 62nd mission when his P-51 caught fire over Berlin, causing him to be captured almost immediately. “I think they about had me surrounded as soon as I landed,” Jean said.
In the Frankfurt camp, Jean was led to a “library” after a few days in isolation to read a book. When he signed a card, the guard refused to give him the book, saying “You been here too long,”
When Jean told him that he’d been there just a few days, the guard showed him a card signed two months earlier by his brother Jack, telling him again “You been here too long.”
“I knew he was alive then,” Jean said of his older brother, noting that he knew Jack had been shot down in October, but that he did not know if he was alive or not.
Jean kept quiet about his brother. “You were never supposed to tell them you had a brother, father or uncle in the camp, because then they would play both of you against each other,” Jack said.
Jack was shot down when flying his B-26 over Italy. He was able to avoid capture for about a week by staying with an Italian family.
“In our training, we were told that if we were shot down, to travel at night and to avoid people,” Jack said “We were also given a compass and map, which was absolutely no good if you didn’t know where you were. I didn’t.
But an Italian family came to his aid: Guiseppie and Maria Absolini and their son.
“Their son had one leg, He found me, put me on his bike and pedaled all the way back to their home,” Jack said. For their help, Jack gave them a chit worth $200.
“I hope they weren’t ever caught with that, because they would have been in some real trouble,” he said.
Jack found out than Jean was alive when he arrived back in the States, at the end of the war. A friend who had been in the camp with Jean told Jack that his brother was captured.
While in the camps, both brothers wrote home a lot, but did not receive much mail from home. “The Germans weren’t too good about getting us the mail,” Jean said, adding that their shipping had been just about shut down by the Allies.
“One Red Cross shipment came in with bullet holes all through it,” Jack recalled, “The guards told us we could try to eat it if we wanted, but we passed on it.”
About all the prisoners had to eat in the camp was soup of cabbage and rutabaga, which “the guards would hold their noses when serving us,” Jean said with a laugh.
Prisoners kept up with the war via the POW WOW, broadcast by the British.
“Pilots would bring in radio components with them and would rig up makeshift radios,” Jean said. Broadcasts were written down and passed from compound to compound and room to room so that the prisoners were aware of the latest military actions.
The radios were disassembled and the parts distributed among the prisoners, so that the guards could not take them away.
Jean was freed by the Russians, although the German guards abandoned the camp days before the forces came. “They didn’t want anything to do with the Russians,” Jean said, “I can’t blame them.”
Jack was freed by Patton. “We could hear the guns in the distance and the P-51 flew over. After a while the Gestapo came in and threatened to kill all of us. Patton came in to the camp. He was in about the third tank. The SS came out and shot some of the enlisted men before throwing down their weapons to surrender to get one last jab at us Americans. Patton said to shoot them.”
Jack received the Purple Heart, Air Medals and campaign medals for his service.
Jean received the Distinguished Flying Cross, six air medals, Meritorious Service Medals, Military Merit Medal and campaign medals.
After World War II, Jean continued service to the Air Force and retired at the rank of Colonel after 30 years service. The first thing Jack did when returning stateside was “buy some civilian clothes,” he said. Jack remained in private business until retirement.
After retiring from the service in 1970, Jean moved to Salado into one of the first 20 or so houses in Mill Creek. He recalls playing golf “whenever we wanted to” on the original nine hole course. Jean taught in Salado schools for seven years and served on the school board for three years.
Jack came to Salado to be close to his brother in the early 1980s. By then, the golf course had grown to a full 18 holes, but you could still get on pretty easily.
For most of their lives, Jack and Jean Tarbutton have been following in each other’s footsteps.
Together, they have blazed an admirable trail.
Jack Tarbutton was born on April 17,1918 and passed away on October 26, 2002.