David Yelton

Professor Emeritus of History

On the last day of class in History 331, Gardner-Webb Professor of History Dr. David Yelton handed each student a thank-you note. Mostly history majors, they had given him a retirement party the week before. This personal gesture spoke volumes about his character and passion to mentor and teach during his 35 years at the University. “I will say that nothing is more meaningful to me as a professor than having a student express their appreciation for my efforts to help them grow in knowledge, ability and confidence,” Yelton shared. “That’s why I’ve spent some 92 semesters in higher education.”

Whether helping students in Western Civilization to see the benefit of the general education course or guiding history majors to further develop their research, communication and critical-thinking skills, Yelton’s goal was the same. He endeavored to inspire and challenge his students to achieve success as undergraduates and take those skills into their career or graduate school.

At his retirement in 2025, Yelton was named Professor Emeritus of History for his years of service and contributions to Gardner-Webb and his accomplishments as a scholar and historian. When the announcement was made, the faculty responded with a standing ovation. “That was as much of a reward that I could have asked for—they were essentially saying you did a good job,” Yelton said, his voice heavy with emotion. “Coming from your colleagues, it makes all the struggles along the way worth it.”

Yelton, a native of Rutherford County, N.C., applied for a position at Gardner-Webb in 1990. It was a one-year commitment, but Yelton was asked to stay when Dr. Gil Blackburn moved from the Department of Social Sciences into the role of the dean of Academic Affairs. He appreciated Blackburn’s commitment to the academic reputation of Gardner-Webb. Other former colleagues in the department that influenced him were Dr. Barry Hambright and Dr. Tony Eastman for their ideals and their knowledge of Gardner-Webb policies. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many colleagues, both in my department and across campus, who show, and have shown, such dedication to the most admirable ideals of higher education,” Yelton noted. “I’ve also had so many wonderful students who showed a similar commitment to learning and benefitting from their time at Gardner-Webb.”

Yelton established himself as a faculty leader, serving as coordinator for Secondary Social Studies Teacher Licensure from 1992 to 2012, (a job he said he wasn’t qualified to do) department chair from 2002-07, faculty chair from 2007-09, and assistant provost for Arts & Sciences from 2016 to 2020.

His contributions to the Department of Social Sciences and the University include starting the research and methods course in History (HIST 200: Introduction to Historical Study). Yelton also took an instrumental role in the creation of the Academic Honesty Policy, which laid the foundation for the Honor Code, later developed by others. Specifically, he helped develop the system by which the University would have a mechanism to track, identify, and punish repeat offenders. In addition, Yelton was part of the group that designed the Professional Readiness Experience and served on the committee that established the Information Literacy Requirement.

“Gardner-Webb is a special place because of its people and their dedication to the basic mission of the school—to serve God and humanity through higher education,” Yelton affirmed. “It’s been an honor to be a part of that.”

Yelton’s interest in studying Germany and World War II began in his youth. “The 1960s popular culture was thoroughly infused with information about the second World War,” Yelton reflected. “As much of it was from the American perspective, I developed a curiosity about the other side, particularly the Germans. My father was in the National Guard until I was about 9 or 10, and I was therefore curious about military issues.”

As a student at Appalachian, Yelton encountered Dr. Rennie Brantz, “who naturally exuded a love for history.” Brantz inspired him to become a college professor and further developed Yelton’s fascination with German history. After earning his bachelor’s in history from Appalachian State, Yelton received his master’s (1985) and PhD (1990) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His primary academic field was modern European history with focus on 20th Century Germany.

Yelton remained an active scholar in the field of German history and well-known for his research on the German Volkssturm, a militia organization founded in the fall of 1944 and formed by the Nazi Party. His research has been published in journals, volumes and encyclopedias and has become the accepted interpretation of both the Volkssturm and the broader Nazi war-fighting strategy. He is the author of two books, “Hitler’s Volkssturm: The Nazi Militia and the Fall of Germany 1944-45” (University Press of Kansas, 2002) and “Hitler’s Home Guard: Volkssturmman, Western Front, 1944–1945” (Osprey Publishing, 2006).

He was especially interested in examining the citizen militia of Nazi Germany. “I selected it as a dissertation topic because at that time it had never been thoroughly studied,” Yelton offered. “Once I began researching the topic, I found that there had been little work in English on the German perspective of the end of the war. Interestingly, I finished my dissertation in 1990. The Germanies reunified the next year, which meant that there was a lot of archival material now available that had previously been closed. In 1996, I received a Gardner-Webb sabbatical that let me investigate enough of the former East German archival material to confirm that I didn’t have to revise my conclusions fundamentally.”

Yelton was honored in 2020 for his expertise as a researcher and author. He was one of four historians to receive the prestigious Vandervort Prize from the Journal of Military History. Formerly called the Moncado Prize, the honor was renamed that year in memory of the journal’s editor, Dr. Bruce Vandervort, who died in March 2020.

The Journal is published quarterly, featuring a total of 30 to 35 articles a year. Yelton’s article, “Older German Officers and National Socialist Activism: Evidence from the German Volkssturm,” appeared in the April 2019 issue. “To have it recognized as expanding our knowledge of the Third Reich made all the long and tedious hours of research, writing and editing more than worthwhile,” Yelton related. “It’s an affirmation of knowing that your scholarly work is appreciated by your peers and an acknowledgement that your work makes a difference. Vandervort was the editor who approved the draft of this article with the recommendation of several readers, so that adds to the honor.”

Yelton’s other significant publications include:

• “Ein Volk Steht Auf: The German Volkssturm and Nazi Strategy, 1944-1945,” in “The Second World War,” edited by Jeremy Black, Vol. II:  The German War, 1943-1945. Aldershot, UK:  Ashgate Publishing, 2007.
• “The SS, NSDAP and the Question of Volkssturm Expansion,” in Alan E. Steinweis and Daniel Rogers, eds. “The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and its Legacy.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003, 167-81.
• “Ein Volk Steht Auf: The German Volkssturm and Nazi Strategy, 1944-1945,” Journal of Military History 64 (Nr. 4, Oct. 2000): 1061-1083.
• “British Public Opinion, the Home Guard and the Defense of Great Britain, 1940-1944,” Journal of Military History 58 (Nr. 3, July 1994): 461-480.

In retirement, Yelton planned to travel to Germany and work on additional research projects. One goal is to write about the Stadt- und Landwacht, a police auxiliary formed in Germany in 1942. Yelton commented that there is virtually no scholarly research on this group that ultimately contained almost a million members. This auxiliary assisted local police in providing security against foreign laborers and Allied POWs on the German home front.

Other research ideas are closer to home. “One is a history of the church my family attends, Gilboa United Methodist, which was founded in 1820,” Yelton informed. “Another is a possible investigation of the men from Rutherford County who served in the companies formed within the county for service in the Confederate Army to establish their social composition and to trace their common experience through the war.”

Yelton and his wife, Denise, reside in Rutherfordton, N.C. They have three daughters, Katie, Allyson and Emily.

Source: Podcast interview with Greg Pillar (below); GWU Newscenter Archives, and emailed responses from Yelton.