The 504th Infantry Regiment, originally the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504th PIR), is an airborne forces regiment of the United States Army, part of the 82nd Airborne Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade,"...On Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, SkySoldiers held a ceremony marking the official inactivation of 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, and the reactivation of 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment," 173rd Airborne Brigade official Facebook post, dated 8 January 2026, last accessed 8 January 2026 with a long and distinguished history. The regiment was first formed in mid-1942 during World War II as part of the 82nd Airborne Division and saw service in Sicily, Italy, Anzio, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
A parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System, three battalions from the regiment, 1st Battalion (1-504 PIR) and 2nd Battalion (2-504 PIR) are currently active with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and 3rd Battalion (3-504 PIR) is active with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
World War II Activation The regiment was initially constituted on 24 February 1942, over two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent American entry into World War II, in the Army of the United States as the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504th PIR). The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions were constituted the same date as Companies A, B, and C, respectively, of the 504th PIR, and were activated on 1 May 1942 at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was assigned to the U.S. Army Airborne Command. When complete with its regimental training, the 504th, then under the command of Colonel Theodore L. Dunn, was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway, on 15 August 1942. Serving alongside the regiment in the 82nd were the 325th and 326th Glider Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units.
The 504th PIR, now under the command of 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Henry "Rube" Tucker, who had formerly been the 504th's executive officer (XO), soon moved from Fort Benning to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on 30 September 1942 to finish its training, fill its Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE), and prepare for its staging call. When the call came, the regiment staged at Camp Edwards on 18 April 1943, and it made its port call on 10 May 1943, when it departed the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE).
North Africa On 29 April 1943, the 504th boarded the troop ship USS George Washington which steamed to North Africa and the regiment's first overseas port of call, Casablanca. They arrived shortly before the end of the campaign in North Africa, which ended with the surrender of almost 250,000 Axis soldiers. Upon arrival the paratroops marched eight miles south of the city where they established a cantonment area consisting of a few stone huts and a tent city. Soon, the regiment was moved by "40 and 8's" northward to Oujda, Morocco. The "40 and 8's" were railroad cars dating from World War I, so called because they were designed to carry 40 men or 8 horses.
Training intensified and senior officers such as General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), Lieutenant General Clark, the U.S. Fifth Army commander, and Lieutenant General Patton, the U.S. Seventh Army commander, along with the Sultan of Morocco and officials of every Allied nation watched the 504th go through its paces. Training included many practice jumps, and one conducted in winds of up to 30 miles-per-hour put nearly 30% of the unit in the hospital with broken bones, sprains and bruises. Finally, the order came and the 504th moved by truck to Kairouan, Tunisia, which was to be the 82nd Airborne Division's point of departure for the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Sicily, July 1943 Colonel James M. Gavin, commander of the 505th Parachute Regimental Combat Team (with the 3rd Battalion of the 504th attached), led the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Husky, and, on the night of 9 July 1943, the 504th helped spearhead the Allied invasion of Sicily in the first airborne military offensive in the history of the United States Army.
The paratroopers of the 504th crossed over the Sicilian coast on schedule. Despite extensive precautions to avoid an incident, near the Sicilian coast a nervous Allied naval vessel suddenly fired upon the formation. Immediately, all other naval vessels and shore troops joined in, downing friendly aircraft and forcing planeloads of paratroopers to exit far from their intended drop zones in one of the greatest friendly fire tragedies of World War II. However, U.S. Navy ships had been under intense Axis aerial attacks, and many were unaware of the impending jump. Twenty-three planes were destroyed, thirty-seven were damaged, and almost 400 casualties were confirmed.
Colonel Tucker's plane, after twice flying the length of the Sicilian coast and with well over 2,000 holes in its fuselage, finally reached the drop zone near Gela. By morning, only 400 of the rest of the regiment's 1,600 paratroopers had reached the objective area. The others had been dropped in isolated groups on all parts of the island and carried out demolitions, cut lines of communication, established island roadblocks, ambushed German and Italian motorized columns, and caused so much confusion over such an extensive area that initial German radio reports estimated the number of American parachutists dropped to be over ten times the actual number.
On 13 July 1943, the 504th Parachute Infantry moved out, spearheading the 82nd Airborne Division's drive northwest along the southern coast of Sicily. With captured Italian light tanks, trucks, motorcycles, horses, mules, bicycles, and even wheelbarrows pressed into service, the 82nd encountered only light resistance and took 22,000 POWs in their first contact with enemy forces. Overall, the Sicilian operation proved costly, both in lives and equipment, but the regiment gained valuable fighting experience and managed to hurt the enemy in the process. It was with this experience and pride that the 504th returned to its base in Kairouan to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy.
Devils in Italy Back in North Africa, replacements arrived, training resumed, and the 3rd Battalion was again detached, this time to Bizerte, for special beach assault training with the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment (325th GIR) and the Army Rangers. The 1st and 2nd Battalions moved back to Sicily and trained for a drop at Capua —in vain, however, because the enemy had been tipped off and was waiting on the drop zone. Another disappointment followed with the cancellation of the drop on Rome. Last minute intelligence disclosed that "negotiations" between Brigadier General Maxwell Taylor, commanding the 82nd Airborne Artillery, and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio were a trap. Finally, in early September, the 3rd Battalion rejoined the 325th GIR and the Rangers, boarded landing craft, and set out to sea. The men knew they were going to Italy, but little else. Troopers from H Company, with a group of Army Rangers, made the initial landing on 9 September 1943 on the Italian coast at Maiori. They quickly advanced inland to seize the Chiunzi Pass and a vital railroad tunnel.
On 11 September 1943, the 3rd Battalion Headquarters and G and I Companies, along with the remainder of the 325th GIR, swerved south and landed at Salerno. The military situation deteriorated with each passing hour as German tanks and infantry tried to push the Allies back into the sea. The 3rd Battalion troopers dug in and held on.
On standby at airfields in Sicily, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 504th were alerted, issued parachutes, and loaded on aircraft without knowledge of their destination. Receiving their briefing aboard the plane, the men were told that the U.S. Fifth Army's beachhead was in danger and they were needed to jump in behind friendly lines. Flying in columns of battalions, they exited over the barrels of gasoline-soaked sand that formed a flaming "T" in the center of the drop zone. The regiment assembled quickly and moved to the sounds of cannon and small arms fire within the hour. By dawn, the unit was firmly set in defensive positions.
The days that followed were, in the words of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, "responsible for saving the Salerno beachhead." As the 504th (minus the 3rd Battalion) took the high ground at Altavilla, the enemy counterattacked, inflicting heavy casualties on the regiment, and the divisional commander, Major General Ridgway, along with Major General Fred L. Walker, commander of the 36th Infantry Division, suggested the unit withdraw. Epitomizing the determined spirit of the regiment, Colonel Tucker vehemently replied, "Hell no! We've got this hill and we are going to keep it. Just send me my other battalion." The 3rd Battalion, then being held in reserve, rejoined the rest of the 504th and, supported by a huge 350-round barrage from the Navy, repulsed the enemy, forcing the Germans to retreat from Salerno. Colonel Tucker and two of his men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions at Altavilla.
The operation secured the flanks of the Fifth Army, allowing it to break out of the coastal plain and drive on to Naples. On 1 October 1943, the 504th became the first infantry unit to enter the city of Naples, which it subsequently garrisons, along with most of the rest of the 82nd Airborne Division. The airborne operation at Salerno was not only a success, but it also stands as one of history's greatest examples of the mobility of the airborne unit: within only eight hours of notification, the 504th developed and disseminated its tactical plan, prepared for combat, loaded aircraft and jumped onto its assigned drop zone to engage the enemy and turn the tide of battle.
The 82nd Airborne Division was slated as a unit to be used in the invasion of Normandy the following year. However, Lieutenant General Clark, the Fifth Army commander, was unwilling to give up the division. During the next few weeks in fighting Italy, the 504th, reinforced with the 376th and 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalions to create the 504th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, fought in difficult terrain against a determined enemy. On steep, barren slopes, the regiment assaulted one hill after another. Mule trains aided in the evacuation of wounded to some extent, but casualties were often carried for hours down the steep hillsides just to reach the road.
Finally, the 504th, severely understrength, was pulled back to Naples on 4 January 1944 as rumors of another airborne mission spread. The operation was to be called Operation "Shingle", and it involved an airborne assault into a sector behind the coastal town of Anzio, 35 miles south of Rome. It seemed, however, that even the locals in Naples knew of the operation, so the 504th was glad that the beach would be assaulted from troop-carrying landing craft.
The landing on Red Beach went smoothly—at least until enemy planes started their strafing runs on the landing craft. The unit disembarked under fire and was sent shortly thereafter to patrol in force along the Mussolini Canal. After several days of intense German artillery fire, the enemy launched his main drive to push the Allies back into the sea. The 3rd Battalion was committed with elements of the British 1st Infantry Division in the heaviest fighting, with the paratrooper companies, due to the severe fighting, being reduced in strength to between 20 and 30 men. H Company drove forward to rescue a captured British General and was cut off. I Company broke through to them with their remaining 16 men. For its outstanding performance from 8 to 12 February 1944, the 3rd Battalion, 504th was presented one of the first Presidential Unit Citations awarded in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).