James Arthur Yunker Jr.

SGT in 3133rd Signal Service Co

ASN#15372306

Born 1922 in KY, Died 2015

County of residence at enlistment: Jefferson County, KY

Other residence(s): Louisville, KY; Peabody, MA; Pittsfield, MA; Brussels, Belgium; Pasadena, CA; Kenilworth, IL; Newport Beach, CA

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: semiskilled occupations in manufacture of electrical machinery and accessories, n.e.c.

College education before the war: Univ of Louisville 2 years

College education after the war: Univ of Louisville

Notes: T/5 in 1944 Christmas Program; rank of SGT per family records

Source: 3133rd Program, 15 Sep 1944; 3133rd roster from 10th Mountain Division Museum at Fort Drum; AES 1944 Christmas Dinner Program; photo courtesy the Yunker family

Jim Yunker was born on August 19, 1922 in Louisville, KY, the second of five children. His father was a gas engineer with Louisville Gas & Electric.

Jim grew up in Louisville, graduating from Louisville Male High School in 1940 (where a classmate was George Tuell, who also ended up becoming a member of the Ghost Army). He then went on to study engineering at the University of Louisville. He registered for the draft at the end of his sophomore year, on June 30, 1942, and enlisted in the Signal Corps Reserve a few months later, on October 27, 1942. He completed a nine-month course in telephones and electronic equipment and was inducted into active service on July 8, 1943.

On January 23, 1943 Jim had married his high school sweetheart, Margaret Kaelin. Both Jim and his wife came from devout Catholic families—his youngest sister became a nun and her brother was a priest. The Yunkers would go on to have six children: James III, Ruth, Stephen, Catherine, Barbara, and Teresa.

Jim was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) in November, 1943. (This was a program designed to meet the wartime demand for junior officers and soldiers with technical skills.) He eventually found his way into the 3133 Signal Service Company by volunteering for promised duty overseas, and saw service as a tank commander in Italy with that unit near the end of the war. After the war ended, he became part of the 88^th Division on the Yugoslavia/Italy border until he returned home after Christmas 1945. Much later in life, Jim wrote a detailed account of his Army service and his time in the 3133^rd; this document will be posted on the Ghost Army website sometime in 2026.

After returning stateside, he used his GI Bill benefits to complete his engineering education at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1947.

After graduation he took a job with GE in Schenectady, NY. By 1950 he had moved to Massachusetts with GE, working his way up the ladder. The family lived in Peabody and Salem MA in the early 1950s when Jim was working at GE's Lynn, MA offices. In about 1957, he was transferred to Pittsfield in central Massachusetts as general manager of a GE unit based there. During his time in Pittsfield, he played for the YMCA chess club and won the city chess championship in 1959.

Jim Yunker at work at ITT in Brussels in the 1960s; photo courtesy Yunker family

He parlayed his GE experience into a job with International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) when his former GE boss became president of ITT in Europe. In 1961 Jim moved his family to Brussels, Belgium when he became president and managing director of ITT Standard, the sales and marketing subsidiary for ITT overseas. Jim's oldest son, James III, fell in love with a young English woman during their years there and they would marry in 1966.

In 1965, Jim returned stateside when he took a job as president of ITT's Cannon Electric Division, and moved the family to Pasadena, CA. In 1967 he was named general manager of ITT's Electromechanicals Component Group.

In 1968, Jim jumped ship and took a risky but intriguing job as president and chairman of Astrodata, a high-tech startup serving California's aerospace electronics industry. He was also named, with several other company presidents, to the Orange County Advisory Board of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association. However, Astrodata’s analog products were suddenly overshadowed by the new digital revolution, and Jim left the company in 1970.

His next stop came in 1971 as CEO of the CP Clare Corporation, an electronics manufacturer headquartered in Chicago, IL. The family moved to Kenilworth, a Chicago suburb, and Jim thrived in his new position, retiring in 1983.

Shortly after his retirement, Jim wrote and published Integration Acquisitions—Making Corporate Marriages Work. The book distilled his long experience working in major American conglomerates.

Jim and Margaret then moved to a beach house on Balboa Peninsula, a wealthy enclave of Newport Beach, CA, where he lived for the next 32 years. Margaret died in 2002; Jim died on October 8, 2015 and they are buried together at Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery in Huntington Beach, CA.