Bio
Born in 1917 in Wetumka, Oklahoma, Jay D. Vanderpool attended high school during the Great Depression and enlisted in the Army in 1936.
Reaching the rank of staff sergeant in the Field Artillery, Vanderpool completed Officers Candidate School and earned an Army Reserve commission as a second lieutenant on 5 April 1941.
After serving on Guadalcanal and in the Solomons, Vanderpool volunteered for the Philippine Regional Section (PRS), an organization created to provide control over the then-nebulous guerrilla network working behind enemy lines in the Philippines.
After training, he infiltrated Luzon by submarine and commanded a group of guerrillas, preparing them to assist the U.S. invasion force as it returned to the Philippines in late 1944.
His group conducted raids, sabotage, and collected information on the Japanese enemy.
During the Korean War, Colonel Vanderpool commanded North Korean guerrillas fighting to regain control of their homeland.
Leveraging on his earlier guerrilla experiences, Vanderpool directed a force of 5-10,000 fighters to protect U.S. flanks, seize islands, provide information, and infiltrate the north.
After Korea, he served as the innovative program lead to arm helicopters for use as Air Cavalry gunships in Vietnam.