A Summary History of the 509th Parachute Infantry

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"The Geronimos"
(Originally published in 2011)

The 509th Infantry Regiment (ABN) traces its lineage to the formation of the 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion on October 5, 1941, just two months before the United States entered World War II. The battalion was the fourth battalion of parachutists to be activated at Fort Benning, Georgia. The battalion, and every designation of the unit since, has adopted the nickname of the "Geronimos." This came from the famous exclamation of Geronimo! that was started by a member of the Parachute Test Platoon as he exited the aircraft on a qualifying jump to prove he wasn't scared and still had the presence of mind to yell something distinctive.

Very quickly the Army realized that to fight the upcoming war they would need regiments of paratroopers rather than independent battalions. Effective on March 1, 1942, the 504th PIB was redesignated as the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. With individual training completed, the 2/503rd PIR moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for battalion-level training on March 29, 1942. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edson Raff, the 2/503rd PIR was selected as the best-prepared parachute battalion and became the first airborne unit in the U.S. Army to deploy to England. The battalion departed on the Queen Elizabeth on June 4, 1942, and arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, six days later.

The Geronimos made the estate of Chilton-Foliat their training base for the next six months. For most of this time, the battalion thought they would be called upon to jump into France. However, the cross-channel invasion was postponed for more than a year. The 2/503rd was incorporated into Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. On the night of November 7, 1942, the Geronimos climbed aboard 39 C-47 aircraft and departed Lands End in Great Britain for a 1500-plus mile trip to North Africa. Their mission was to take control of airfields at La Sénia and Tafaraoui near Oran, Algeria. While their mission on November 8 was less than successful, the battalion has the distinction of being the first American airborne unit to make a combat jump in World War II.

Just prior to departing England, the Army passed down orders for another name change for the Geronimos. Since the other battalions of the 503rd PIR had deployed to the Pacific Theater, it was believed that a new regiment would be formed around the Geronimos. They were redesignated the 2nd Battalion of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment effective November 2, 1942.

The 2/509th made a second combat jump in North Africa, this time at Youks les Bains, a French-occupied airfield on the Algerian/Tunisian border on November 15, 1942. This time the French were cooperative and became allied with the American and British forces. French forces in the area participated with Edson Raff's "Tunisian Task Force," an ad hoc group of American units including the Geronimos. The Tunisian Task Force successfully kept the German and Italian forces in the area out of the mountain passes that led from Tunisia into Algeria until the main effort of the Americans and British could move east.

Now under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Doyle Yardley, the Geronimos were attached to the 82nd Airborne Division for the invasion of Sicily but were held in reserve for the entire operation. Four days after the invasion of Salerno on the coast of Italy, when the beachhead was in danger of collapsing, Fifth Army commander General Mark Clark called for reinforcement by his airborne forces. While the 82nd Airborne Division was dropped inside the beachhead, the 2/509th PIR was sent on a seemingly suicide mission to drop on and seize the crossroads town of Avellino, more than twenty miles behind enemy lines. Their drop on the night of September 14, 1943, was scattered and the battalion was not able to concentrate their forces. However, the small unit actions of the Geronimos wreaked havoc in the enemy's rear area. More than 80% of the unit was able to make it back to friendly lines. Unfortunately, the battalion commander was wounded and taken prisoner on the night of the jump.

The 2/509th was reconstituted in Naples and assigned directly to Fifth Army Headquarters. The new commander was Lieutenant Colonel William Yarborough. In order to provide a unit identity while assigned to Fifth Army, Yarborough had a unit patch designed. This patch included a Native American stick figure that the paratroopers said looked like a "gingerbread man." The patch, still used today, is known as the gingerbread man patch and provided a new nickname for the paratroopers of the 509th: the gingerbread men.

The Geronimos began their next combat operation on November 9, 1943, in the mountains of Italy above the Volturno River. Attached to Darby's Rangers, the battalion attacked the crest of Mount Croce above the town of Venafro. The gingerbread men held their position against continuous German attacks in foul weather with resupply over difficult terrain for the next 34 days.

By this time the Army decided that the other battalions of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment would not be fielded after all. The 2nd Battalion would remain an independent airborne battalion. On December 10, 1943, the Geronimos were officially designated the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

In the early morning hours of January 22, 1944, the 509th PIB, again attached to Darby's Rangers, made a beach landing at Anzio. The gingerbread men endured 73 days of combat at Anzio. During this time the Geronimos earned two Presidential Unit Citations. The first was for the battalion holding the Allied line against the onslaught of the German division's deliberate attack. The second was awarded to C Company, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion for "Raid Nibble," the assault on two strategic stone houses on the German line.

The next combat operation for the Geronimos was the jump into southern France as part of Operation Dragoon. The 509th PIB was part of the First Airborne Task Force (FABTF) and jumped on the morning of August 15, 1944. After seizing the town of Le Muy, France, the FABTF turned and moved up the coast of the French Riviera with the gingerbread men in the lead. The 509th Parachute Infantry Combat Team (the 509th reinforced with the 551st PIB and the 463rd Airborne Artillery attached) took the cities of Cannes and Nice by the end of August in what became known as the "Champagne Campaign." The name was derived from the jubilant civilians who poured into the streets to welcome their liberators.

In September 1944 the Geronimos, along with the other units of the FABTF, moved into the French Maritime Alps to screen the U.S. Seventh Army's push to the north. After more than three months of patrol actions in the mountain passes, the gingerbread men were relieved and moved to join the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions camps around Rheims and Soissons, France on December 13, 1944.

On December 16, 1944, three German armies crashed through the Ardennes sector of Belgium nearly splitting the Allied line into two pieces. The "Battle of the Bulge" required the immediate deployment of all reserves to restore the line. The 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion deployed to the northern shoulder of the bulge on December 22 and was attached to the 3rd Armored Division. While being held in reserve, the Geronimos' commander, Major Edmund Tomasik, saw a break in the American line at the small village of Sadzot. On his own authority, Tomasik committed the Geronimos, who held the line against two German regiments of SS Grenadiers. This action earned the gingerbread men their third Presidential Unit Citation. As the Americans turned to the offense, the 509th PIB was attached to the 7th Armored Division for the push to retake the Belgian town of St. Vith. In successive attacks, the Geronimos strength was continually depleted until they were relieved on January 28, 1945, with only 55 men remaining.

The Army had much earlier decided that our airborne forces would consist of regiments and divisions. There was no need for independent battalions. On February 1, 1945, the surviving members of the 509th PIB were informed that the unit would be deactivated. The gingerbread men were sent to other units as replacements. Although the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion was not allowed, as a unit, to continue through to the end of the war, the Geronimos had amassed an impressive record in combat. The battalion earned eight battle stars and three arrowheads (for combat invasions) for their colors. The gingerbread men were awarded two Presidential Unit Citations as a battalion and a third for C Company. The government of France awarded the battalion the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star. They received two Army and two Corps commendations. Individual paratroopers of the 509th had won the Medal of Honor (Corporal Paul Huff), 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 62 Silver Stars, 6 Croix de Guerre with Silver Stars, 5 Legions of Merit, and dozens of other decorations.

The 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment was kept on the Army's list of inactive units from the end of World War II, through the Korean War, and into the Cold War. Under the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), implemented in 1957, combat regiments that were considered the most historically distinguished were selected to serve as the parent units of battalions. The 509th was chosen as one of these regiments whose heritage deserved to live on.

In April 1963, the 509th was reactivated as the 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne/Mechanized) with 1st and 2nd Battalions assigned to the 1st Brigade of the 8th Infantry Division in West Germany. Stationed at Lee Barracks near the city of Mainz, the two battalions of the 509th PIR now had a dual role of both mechanized infantry and as an airborne "fire brigade" for contingency missions. Both battalions participated in "Project Partnership," an extensive training program that involved training with NATO forces' weapons and tactics. For a ten-year period, a new generation of gingerbread men fulfilled their Cold War mission of defense and deterrence in West Germany.

With the changing strategic requirements of the Cold War, it was determined that a battalion-sized combat team could satisfy the airborne contingency requirements in Europe. In 1973, the two battalions of the 509th Infantry Regiment were consolidated into one. Redesignated the 1st Battalion (ABN) 509th Infantry (Battalion Combat Team), the unit was moved to a new home in Vicenza, Italy. The 1/509th ABCT had a fourth company assigned to it, designated "Battery D" and fielding pack howitzers. This gave the Geronimos their own organic indirect fire support. Additional augmentation included an engineer platoon, a parachute rigger platoon, and a double-strength medical platoon. Assigned to the Southern European Task Force (SETAF), the battalion combat team was the only airborne unit stationed in Europe.

In 1983, the 1/509th ABCT in Vicenza was reflagged as the 4/325th Infantry Regiment to bring the unit into alignment with those regiments traditionally assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. However, the 509th was not completely out of the picture yet. In 1975, C Company (Pathfinder), 509th Infantry was activated as a separate company at the Army Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, Alabama, to provide training support to Aviation School. Unfortunately, this unit was also reflagged in 1993.

The 1st Battalion, 509th (ABN) Infantry Regiment was reactivated once again on December 18, 1987, to serve as the Opposing Forces (OPFOR) at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. The JRTC moved to Fort Polk, Louisiana in June 1993. The 1/509th serves as the OPFOR to provide realistic training that simulates combat conditions for American and Allied light infantry and special operations units rotating through training cycles at the JRTC. The modern-day gingerbread men also have an on-order combat mission. They were called upon to conduct this mission through a deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom II in 2004.

The most recent embodiment of the Geronimo spirit was fashioned on September 16, 2005, with the creation of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne) at Fort Richardson, Alaska. The 3/509th Infantry (ABN) is assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, the only airborne brigade in the Pacific theater. After only one year of training together, the Geronimos of the 3rd Battalion made their first deployment. The 3/509th has participated in the Global War on Terror with deployments to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007. At the time of this writing, the 3/509th was training for another deployment to Afghanistan in late 2011.

For a complete history of the gingerbread men during World War II, read The Boldest Plan is the Best: The Combat History of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion During WWII by Jim Travis Broumley.

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The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment

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The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment

For regular readers of this blog, you know that the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion started out the World War II designated as the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. When I was doing my research for The Boldest Plan is the Best, I of course wondered what happened to the rest of the original 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment that the Geronimos left behind at Fort Bragg in 1942. After some reading, I found out that the 503rd PIR had an equally fascinating combat history. While I was living in Pennsylvania I visited the National Archives and the Army Heritage and Education Center and conducted the research to write a combat history of the 503rd PIR, "The Rock Regiment," during their time in the Pacific Theater. Unfortunately, life gets in the way (as does writing fiction) and that book (which I thought would make an excellent companion to The Boldest Plan is the Best so that the pair will cover early WWII airborne operations) will not be completed until next winter. In the meantime, I thought I would take the opportunity to provide some of the highlights of this little-known unit's record during WWII here.

July 2, 1944 – Members of 503rd Parachute Infantry
descending on Kamiri Airstrip, Noemfoor Island.
SC-287126 from the National Archives

After the departure of the 2nd Battalion for England in June 1942, the 503rd PIR formed its 3rd Battalion at Fort Bragg and continued to train as a two battalion regiment. They departed Fort Bragg on October 10, 1942, headed to Australia to join MacArthur's growing force in the Pacific Theater. On the way, they formed their missing 2nd Battalion from a company out of the 504th PIR recently formed at Fort Bragg, and three companies of the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion that had been serving in the Panama Canal Zone. The old 2nd Battalion was at this time in England preparing to jump into North Africa as part of Operation Torch.  They were now designated the 2/509th PIR.

It took the 503rd PIR until December 2 to make it to Australia. The regiment spent the next nine months training in Australia and New Guinea. At the time of their first combat operation, one could argue that they were the most well-trained airborne unit in the American army. The first entry into combat was a jump on Nazdab airfield, in the Markham Valley of New Guinea, on  September 5, 1943.

Two battalions of the 503rd Parachute Infantry made an unopposed jump on Kamiri airfield on Noemfoor Island, off the coast of Dutch New Guinea beginning on July 3, 1944. The third battalion made an amphibious landing a few days later. Once Noemfoor was secured, the regiment was moved to Leyte in the Philippine Islands. The 503rd PIR was turned into a regimental combat team with the attachments of the 462nd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and Company C, 161st Airborne Engineers. On December 15, 1944, the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team made an amphibious landing on the Philippine island of Mindoro, where they fought to secure airstrips that would be used to support the invasion of the island of Luzon, and hence the retaking of Manila.

February 16, 1945 – Parachutists of the 503rd Parachute
Infantry landing on “B” field, Corregidor Island.
SC 201041 from the National Archives

The 503rd PRCT earned their nom de guerre when, on February 16, 1945, they made a combat jump onto the island fortress of Corregidor, "The Rock." Corregidor had become an important symbol to the United States as the last outpost of any size to fall to the enemy in the early stages of the Pacific War. Japanese sources have estimated that there were 6700 Japanese soldiers on the Island when the 503d Combat Team landed. Only fifty of those defenders survived. Almost 200 American soldiers died taking back Corregidor. The 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for taking back "The Rock."

The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment finished WWII fighting on Negros island in the Philippines. They were deactivated shortly after the war. After a history of activation and deactivation and a redesignation as the 503d Infantry, two battalions of "the Rock Force" are serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, the "Sky Soldiers." Their home station is Vicenza, Italy, but the soldiers of the 503d Infantry have participated in multiple deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan (where they are currently deployed) during the Global War on Terror.

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503rd PIR in Australia, Yesterday and Today

This post is actually about bringing the hobby of metal detecting and the enjoyment of history closer together. But in honor of Anzac Day occurring this week (and the fact that I'm working on book about the 503rd), I found an illustrative example that includes the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and their time "down under" training in Australia during WWII.

First, take a moment to think about the relationship between metal detector enthusiasts and archaeologists/historians. My history friends that I've conversed with about relic hunters (two National Park Rangers and an Archaeologist), to put it plainly, did not have a high opinion of "relic hunters." The punishments for getting caught metal detecting on National Park property usually worked its way into the conversation. How is the view from the other direction? I have to assume that most metal detecting enthusiasts do not really understand why so few sites have been examined and what all the fuss is.

This dialogue in my mind came up when I ran across a post on the Society for Historical Archaeology blog about archaeologists and metal "detectorists" coming together in Montpelier. Here's the gist, borrowed from the SHA blog:

In mid March, the Montpelier Archaeology Department completed the first public archaeology program at Montpelier that was open to the general metal detecting public. This program pairs metal detectorists with trained Montpelier archaeology staff to conduct gridded metal detector surveys across a section of the 2700-acre property to locate and identify archaeological sites. This survey work is combined with lectures regarding what archaeology can reveal of sites, human activity, and how it meets the goals of a historic site such as Montpelier. On one level, the purpose of this program is to locate historic sites so they can be preserved. It just so happens that controlled and gridded metal detector surveys are one of the most efficient means of finding a range of sites from ephemeral slave quarters, to barns, and sites characteristically missed by standard shovel test pit surveys.

As you will find out in the article, both sides learned lessons from each other. The dectorists began to feel appreciated in having a valuable skill set gathered over years of pursuing their hobby. Apparently the interaction also went a long way toward convincing the archaeologists the the hobbyists were not the "looters" they were stereotyped to be.

And what, you may ask, does this have to do with the 503rd Parachute Infantry during WWII? Well, in 1942 the 503rd spent about eight months in Gordonvale, Queensland, Australia. They were training there in preparation for their first combat jump, at Nazdab in New Guinea. While writing about this period, I found the most interesting video, posted on YouTube by a member of the NQ Explorers, a group that maintains a blog about their relic and coin hunting trips around Australia. The video is very well done, with newsreel clips about the 503rd as an opener, then a drive through the local area to the site that gives you an idea of what the terrain is like. Next you see the site of the parachute packing sheds is now a park and tennis club. But the  detectorist finds some coins, a shell casing, and a belt buckle in the lawn around the tennis courts.

I thought this hobbyist provided a great service by not only making others aware of the subject, but also letting me get a glimpse of a historic site that I was interested in. I have to criticize the detectorist's historical knowledge, however. I've embedded the video below so you can see for yourself. I had to wonder, would this hobbyist enjoyed his trip more if he had a deeper appreciation for his subject? I'm undoubtedly biased, but I think so. Regardless, good on ya, mate. I appreciate the visit.

Remembering Bataan

This April 9th marks the 71st anniversary of the 1942 Bataan Death March of WWII. On March 17th of this year, the veterans who suffered during the infamous event were honored at the 24th annual memorial march at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

WWII Poster that urges civilian workers to

"Remember Bataan and Corregidor." National

Archives image ARC 515483

I just finished writing an introductory chapter for a book on the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII. The subject is the Japanese successes in the beginning of the war, paying particular attention to the fall of the Philippines. (The 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team is the unit that took back Corregidor in 1945.) My editor/proof reader/wife, Sheila, now with her radar tuned to the subject, passed on an article in Stars and Stripes to me about an event that honors the veterans of this tragic episode in American military history. As I was unaware of this annual happening, I'd like to share the information with you here, as I'm guessing there is a few readers out there that did not know about the annual Bataan Memorial Death March either.

During the fight for the island nation in early 1942, American and Filipino forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula on the north end of the opening to Manila Bay, on the west coast of the island of Luzon. Allied forces, without reinforcement or resupply, held out for almost five months before surrendering on April 9, 1942. Approximately 76,000 Allied soldiers (just short of 12,000 Americans, the rest Filipino) became prisoners of war. Almost a month later, the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay surrendered, with nearly 15,000 (a majority of American) Allied soldiers following their comrades into captivity.

The Japanese force marched their prisoners, who were sick, exhausted, and diseased, over sixty miles non-stop to prison camps in the interior of Luzon. Exact casualty figures are not possible, but it is estimated that between five and ten thousand Filipino soldiers and from six hundred to a thousand Americans died on what became known to history as the "Bataan Death March." Thousands more would die in POW camps before being liberated in 1945. The news of these atrocities of course made it back to the United States. During the war the public was galvanized in their resolve to win the war with "Remember Bataan," "Remember Corregidor," as well as "Remember Pearl Harbor."

Both soldiers and civilians participate in the Bataan Memorial 

Death March through the desert at While Sands, NM to honor

WWII veterans of the tragic Bataan Death March of WWII.

USAF photo.

For a few years after the end of WWII, Americans acknowledged "Bataan Day" but it fell out of the collective memory in favor of "Pearl Harbor Day" and "V-J Day." April 9th remains a national holiday in the Philippines, known as "The Day of Valor." However, it came to the attention of the Army ROTC detachment at New Mexico State University that there were many veterans of the Bataan Death March living in there state. The 200th and 150th Coast Artillery were units from the New Mexico National Guard that had been mobilized and sent to reinforce the Philippines before the Japanese attack. In 1989 the New Mexico State ROTC cadets organized the first Bataan Memorial Death March through the high desert of the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, NM.

Now in its 24th year, the memorial march is a rough 26.2 miles through the desert at high elevation. Both civilians and soldiers come to march (and many to run) the course to honor those veterans who suffered through the original Death March. This year there were thirteen veterans able to attend the memorial and witness over three thousand take to the route to honor their service and sacrifice. The weather in New Mexico, apparently dry and in the mid-seventies, probably seemed perfect for the event. Compare that to the forecast for Manila, which was 96 degrees with over 60% humidity.

The Bataan Memorial Death March now has a long list of sponsors, most notably the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). But I'd like first throw out a "well done!" to the ROTC cadets who organized this event in the first place. And second, give a shout out to the folks who take the time to travel out to a military reservation out in the desert and gut out twenty-six as their way of showing these veterans that we remember. Keep this on your radar. Who knows, maybe one day we'll see each other there.