Airborne T-10 Parachute

The mission of this TB (Travel Bug) is to come back home to Fort Bragg NC. Its time to get re-packed.

A platoon of volunteers was formed in 1940 and made the first mass jump August 1940. The first airborne Reg. the 501st was formed in April of 1941 and the first jump school was started at Ft. Benning, GA. The idea for the 250' towers came from Coney Island, N.Y. They were built for the 1940 worlds fair , and are still their today. The rest were put together from scratch. The first airborne divisions were created on August 15 1942. The 82nd and the 101st. Then came the 11th ,13th and 17th. The first combat jumps was made on November 8, and November 15, 1942 by the 509 PIR in Algeria at Tunisia. The next combat jump was made by the 504th PIR in Sicily, The first really big jumps were made on September 9th and 14th , 1943 by the 504 and the 509 at Salerno and Avellion which, because of lack of organization, almost turned out to be a disaster. After that jump, other units like artillery, engineers and signal Corps were added to make Airborne units more like a traditional division and increase their efficiency. Even the jumps at Normandy was disorganized, but this worked in their favor, because they landed in so many different spots the Germans didn't know how many men had landed, and it kept them off the beaches of Normandy, allowing the invasion force to gain a foot hold on the germans. The next large jump was by the 82nd and the 101st in Nijmegen-Arnheim to take control of the bridge at Remagen that crossed the Rhine river into Germany. The mission was accomplished leading to the defeat of the Germans. Then it was back to the Pacific. On February 3, 1945 the 11th airborne jumped at Luzon and again on the February 23, at Las Banos in the Philippines. The last and final jump of world W.W.II was by the 503rd on the Island of Corregidor also in the Philippines. This Jump got the 503 its nickname "THE ROCK" . It was on a cliff and some troopers were blown of and their chutes re-open before they hit the ocean! Last but not least was the battle of Bastogne. The 101st didn't jump into Bastogne, but they were very successful at holding the Germans at bay until the weather opened up. General MacAuliffe made himself and the 101st famous with the word of "NUTS" when asked by the Germans if he wanted to surrender . Another great airborne story is when, the Germans had them on the run at the bulge and a tank was retreating. A rifleman asked them if they were looking for a safe place to hide. He said : "IF YOU ARE THEN PULL YOUR VEHICLE BEHIND ME" and yelled "I'M THE 82nd AIRBORNE AND THIS IS AS FAR AS THE BASTARDS ARE GOING!"

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