Yarborough returned briefly to the United States to attend the 21st course of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He returned to Italy in January 1945 as CO of the 473rd Regimental Combat Team, who had previously been antiaircraft gunners. The 473rd serving in the Italian Campaign, which, during Operation Grapeshot, fought its way up the Ligurian Coast to Genoa and the French border as World War II came to an end. It was during this campaign that he was awarded the Silver Star.