The 509th Infantry Regiment (previously the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment) is an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army. The unit was initially activated as a single battalion, the 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in October 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Nicknamed "Geronimo", the 509th conducted the U.S. Army's first combat jump during World War II on 8 November 1942, flying 1,500 miles from England to seize Tafarquay airport in Oran, Algeria. The 509th made a total of five combat jumps during the war.
The 1st and 3rd Battalions remain active. 1st Battalion serves as the Opposing Force (OPFOR) at the U.S. Army's Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, while 3rd Battalion is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, at Fort Richardson, Alaska. The 509th operates independently from larger airborne units such as the 82nd Airborne Division.
History The advent of World War II ushered in a need for highly mobile units capable of quick insertion within the theater of battle by the Allies. Originally constituted on March 14, 1941, as the 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB) and activated on October 5, the 509th PIB qualified its first paratroopers at Fort Benning, Georgia. The unit moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where the 503rd and 504th Parachute Infantry Battalions were consolidated together to form the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment on February 24, 1942, two months after the United States entered World War II. The 504th PIB was reorganized and reflagged as the 503rd's 2nd Battalion, with Companies A, B, and C becoming Companies D, E, and F, respectively. This unit trained with the British 1st Parachute Brigade in England, earned the honorary title "Red Devils", and were authorized to wear the maroon beret. The maroon beret remains an iconic symbol of airborne units. Paratroopers wear it today.
In June 1942, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edson Duncan Raff, the battalion was detached from the 503rd PIR and sailed to Scotland, becoming the first American parachute unit to go overseas in World War II. The battalion was attached to the British 1st Airborne Division for training, which included mass tactical jumps from C-47 aircraft at 350 feet, extensive night training, and speed marching for 10 miles to and from the training area daily; and on one occasion, marching 32 miles in 11 hours. In the summer of 1942, Allied forces were completing the task of planning Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd PIR scheduled to take the lead and make the first combat jump.
Operation Torch was the first joint military action undertaken by the Allies in World War II. This was the springboard for the idea, formed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of attacking the "soft underbelly of Europe" before attempting a cross-channel attack from England onto mainland Europe. The main objective of Torch was to seize French Northwest Africa and, for political reasons, the Americans would lead operation. The airborne segment of the operation entailed flying 1,500 miles from England to seize two French airfields near Oran.
On 2 November 1942, days before Operation Torch began, the unit was reflagged once again as the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry. On this day, as C-47s flew over the English countryside, the 509th paratrooper was born.
World War II North Africa Campaign - Operation Torch The 2-509th carried out the first American combat jump during the invasion of North Africa. The transport planes flew all the way from English airfields to the African coast. This first operation was unsuccessful, with 7 of its 39 C-47s widely scattered. Only 10 aircraft actually dropped their troops, while the others unloaded after 28 troop carriers, nearly out of fuel, landed on the Sebkha d'Oran, a dry lake near their target. The 509th marched overland to occupy its objective, and on 15 November 355 paratroopers successfully dropped on the Youks-les-Bains Airfield.
Italy Campaign Liberation of Ventotene - Italy Forty-six paratroopers from the 509th's Scout Company (the first pathfinders) participated in the liberation of Ventotene, a small Italian island, on 9 September 1943, capturing 90 Germans. The German commander was tricked into surrendering to the weaker American force before realizing his mistake. An account of this is given in John Steinbeck's "Once There Was a War." On 10 December 1943, the battalion was redesignated as the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.
Italy & Southern France During 1943–1944, the 509th PIR served in the Italian mainland campaign and invasion of southern France. Because of the terrain, in both campaigns the regiment often found itself serving as de facto mountain infantry.
The Italian mainland campaign began with a combat jump at Avellino, on 14 September 1943 was widely dispersed and failed,Molony, p. 322. incurring significant casualties.
On 22 January 1944, the 509th PIR took part in the seaborne landings at Anzio, just south of Rome. Corporal Paul B. Huff, a member of the 509th, became the first US paratrooper to be awarded the Medal of Honor, on 29 February 1944, after an action at Anzio.
A second combat jump, on 15 August 1944, occurred around Le Muy and St Tropez in southern France.
France - Operation Dragoon - Southern France Southern France.
Belgium - Battle of the Bulge
During the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944, the 509th fought in Belgium to blunt the German attack. An account of this battle is described in the book "Bloody Clash at Sadzot." The 509th Infantry Regiment's service during World War II concluded at the end of January 1945 near St. Vith, Belgium. Of the original 700 paratroopers who entered the battle, approximately ninety-three percent were injured. Effective 1 March 1945, the 509th PIB was disbanded, and the soldiers who remained were reassigned as replacements in the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division or the U.S. 17th Airborne Division.
Post-World War II Germany After World War II, the colors of the 509th remained inactive until 1963, when Company A, 509th PIB was reactivated as HHC, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry, and Company B, 509th PIB was reactivated as HHC, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry.
Since 1958 the 8th Infantry Division in Germany had had an Airborne component consisting of the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 504th Infantry, and the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 505th Infantry, as well as other supporting elements on jump status. When the division reorganized from the Pentomic structure to the new structure using brigades and battalions, 1-504th and 1-505th were replaced by 1-509th and 2-509th, respectively. Located at Lee Barracks in Mainz-Gonsenheim, Germany, the two battalions formed the infantry component of the 1st Brigade (Airborne), 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Other units of the brigade included the 5th Battalion (Airborne), 81st Artillery; Troop A (Airborne), 3rd Squadron, 8th Cavalry; Company A (Airborne), 12th Engineer Battalion; and Company B (Airborne), 8th Medical Battalion.
Italy In 1973, as the 1st Brigade's jump status was ending, a new unit with the designation of 3d Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry (bearing the lineage of the World War II-era Company C, 509th PIB) was activated to form an Airborne Battalion Combat Team (ABCT) from elements of the existing airborne forces within the brigade. After a brief training period at Rhine Kaserne Barracks in West Germany, the unit moved to Vicenza, Italy, as a separate Airborne Battalion Combat Team. Commanded by LTC Ward M. Lehardy, it was composed of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), a Combat Support Company (CSC), three Airborne Rifle Companies, and Company D, a field artillery battery, the predecessor of what later became Battery D, 319th Field Artillery (towed 105 mm) activated on 1 October 1988. The colors of 1-509th and 2-509th were reflagged as 2-28th and 2-87th. Shortly after its arrival in Italy, the 3d Battalion, 509th Infantry was reflagged as the 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry. In 1983, 1-509th in Italy was reflagged as the 4th Battalion (Airborne), 325th Infantry to align it with elements of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg under an Army-wide combat arms battalion rotation program.
Geronimo returns to the United States
On 1 July 1975 the lineage of Co C, 509th PIB was again reactivated, this time at Fort Rucker, Alabama, as the separate Company C (Pathfinder), 509th Infantry. The company was created by reflagging the existing 5th Infantry Detachment (Pathfinder), which had served at the post since 24 June 1963. (A Pathfinder presence at Fort Rucker can be traced back to 1960 with the activation of the Pathfinder Team, Company A, 2d Battle Group, 31st Infantry, to support the Aviation Center. It was authorized two lieutenants, an E-7, an E-5, four E-4s and four E-3s, by order of a letter from the Department of the Army to the Commanding General, Third US Army dated 10 March 1960 with the subject line "Reorganization of the 2d Battle Group, 31st Infantry." On 24 June 1963 the pathfinder unit was reflagged as the 5th Infantry Detachment.) Contrary to some erroneous accounts, Company C (Pathfinder) 509th Infantry was not created by transferring Company C, 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry from Italy to Fort Rucker; these companies were two separate units. There had already been a Pathfinder presence at Fort Rucker for 15 years. Even if the 5th Infantry Detachment (Pathfinder) had not already existed, the Army would not have reduced the strength of its forward-deployed Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Europe when sufficient manning was available in CONUS. Additionally, the organization and manning of an Airborne Rifle Company is different from that of an Airborne Pathfinder Company.
The size of C-509th varied depending upon funding and mission requirements. For example, documents on file at the United States Army Center of Military History in Washington, DC, indicate that when the company was activated in 1975 by replacing the 5th Infantry Detachment (Pathfinder), it was authorized 4 officers and 108 enlisted soldiers. Documents dated 22 September 1987 show the unit as still having 4 officers authorized but only 77 enlisted soldiers.
The orange and black flash, seen on the right, was first worn by the 5th Infantry Detachment (Pathfinder), matching the colors of the shoulder sleeve insignia of the U.S. Army Aviation Center and School to which the unit was assigned. The 5th wore this patch with a black and gold Airborne tab.
The 5th was expanded and reflagged to become C-509th in 1975 and subsequently the company adopted the same flash and wing oval worn by 1-509th in Vicenza, Italy. On 18 February 1977 the 1st Aviation Brigade, which had served as a combat unit in Vietnam, was reactivated as a training unit at Fort Rucker, resulting in C-509th being assigned to the brigade. As a unit of the 1st Aviation Brigade, C-509th adopted the brigade shoulder sleeve insignia and worn it beneath a blue and white Airborne tab. Note: The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry notes that an Airborne tab is an intrinsic part of a shoulder sleeve insignia and is not supposed to be worn as an add-on by Airborne units assigned to non-Airborne commands; however, this has been a common practice in the Army for many decades.