Hall of Heritage__David Stewart

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Hall of Heritage

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David Stewart

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The Early History of the 504th Parachute Infantry.

The first, second and third battalions of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were activated on May 1st, 1942 at Fort Benning Georgia. The battalions were assigned to the United States Army Airborne Command.

On August 15th, 1942, after completing its regimental training, the 504th was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division.

The unit then moved from Fort Benning to Fort on September 30th to finish preparations for its staging call, which came on April 18th, 1943, and the unit would soon depart from New York to war.<p>

The unit would eventually set up camp in Algeria to prepare for the invasion of Sicily. Training consisted of practice jumps, combat drills and physical training.

The regiment set foot in Italy on July 9th, 1943 during Operation Husky, led by General James Gavin. The 504th spearheaded the invasion of the country in what was the first airborne military offensive in the history of the United States of America