The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Triple Nickles - 555th PIR (1944-1947) - May 12th, 2004

www.triplenickle.com ^ | Bradley Biggs, Lt. Col. USA (Ret.)

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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"The Triple Nickles"
The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion
1944 - 1947

Many years before "black pride" became a popular slogan, a small group of black American soldiers gave life and meaning to those words. This is their story. Born within an army that had traditionally relegated blacks to menial jobs and programmed them for failure, the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, or "Triple Nickles," succeeded in becoming the nation's first all-black parachute infantry test platoon, company, and battalion.

In the frosty Georgia winter of 1943-44, soldiers and officer candidates traveling to and from Fort Benning often saw the sky filled with white parachutes. Most of them assumed that the faces beneath the chutes were also white. The black soldiers they knew drove their trucks, waited on them in mess halls, or hauled their ammunition; they rode in the back of the bus to and from Columbus; they gathered at their own separate clubs on the fort.

Some of the faces beneath those chutes, however, were black. As such they were also pioneers, blazing new trails for countless black soldiers to follow. It wasn't easy. A proud black lieutenant, sergeant, or private, with polished boots and paratrooper wings, still had to use the "colored" toilets and drinking fountains in the railroad stations, sit in segregated sections of theaters, and go out of his way to avoid confrontations with racist police. Black officers continued to find post officers' club closed to them. But they endured, and proved themselves as airborne troopers--"as fine a group of soldiers as I have ever seen," in the words of the notoriously fussy General Ben Lear.



True, these black pioneers were exceptional men, specially selected for the task. They were former university students and professional athletes, top-notch and veteran noncoms. A major element in their success was that, unlike other black infantry units officered by whites, they were entirely black, from commanding officer down to the newest private.

In fathering the 3rd Battalion, 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment, the 80th Airborne Anti-aircraft Battalion, the 503rd Airborne Artillery Battalion, and the 2nd Airborne Ranger Company, and serving in the 82nd, 101st, 11th and 13th Airborne Divisions, the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, the 188th and 511th Airborne Infantry Regiments, the Airborne Center and Special Forces, the Triple Nicklers served in more airborne units, in peace and war, than any other parachute group in history.


Test Platoon - First 16 qualified black paratroopers (1944) Enlisted men of the Test Platoon. Front Row from L-R: First Sgt. Walter Morris, first black enlisted man accepted for airborne duty • Sgt. Jack D. Tillis • Sgt. Leo D. Reed • Sgt Daniel Weil *S. Sgt. Hubert Bridges • Tech. Grade IV Alvin L. Moon • Sgt. Ned D. Bess • Sgt. Roger S. Walden Back Row from L-R • Cpl. McKinley Godfrey, Jr. • Sgt. Elijah Wesby • Sgt. Samuel W. Robinson • S. Sgt. Calvin R. Beal • S. Sgt Robert F. Greene • S. Sgt. Lonnie M. Duke • Sgt. Clarence H. Beavers and Sgt. James E. Kornegay. Not Shown Carstell O. Stewart, the seventeenth, who was on emergency leave and earned his wings a week later.

Though combat-ready and alerted for European duty in late 1944, the changing tides of the war resulted in a different assignment--jumping over the blazing forests of the American northwest searching for Japanese balloon bombs, a job requiring exact skills and special courage. In this unusual role, the 555th also confronted a new dimension in warfare involving the use of biological agents that could destroy woodlands and crops, but not humans.

The population of the west coast would have been seriously alarmed by the knowledge that these weapons, launched in Japan, were landing on their shores. Consequently, the 555th approached Operation Fire Fly committed to absolute secrecy. We realized that any slip on our part, any breach of security, could bring chaos to the west coast and damage the nation's morale. Only recently fear, hatred, and prejudice had been vented on Japanese-American citizens in the western states by stripping them of their rights and property and placing them in concentration camps. That Americans of German and Italian descent were spared this treatment did not escape our attention.


The Officers of the test platoon (1944) Left to Right • First Lt. Jasper E. Ross, Chicago, IL • Second Lt. Clifford Allen, Chicago, IL • Second Lt. Bradley Biggs, Newark, NJ • Second Lt. Edwin H. Wills, Washington, DC • Second Lt. Warren C. Cornelius, Atlantic City, NJ • Second Lt. Edward Baker, Chicago, IL

In this mission, and in many others, the 555th was successful. We became a superb organization because of our belief in ourselves and each other. We worked together. We were not greedy for promotion and publicity, nor did we engage in the army's political games. Our game was soldiering. It took a total effort and a collective frame of mind that recognized that everything we did was for a special purpose. As black men in competition with whites, we knew that if we failed it might be a long time before we were given another chance.

For us, integration meant survival and advancement in the white man's army. But would it remain a white man's army? By the turn of the century there could well be all-black units again--not by design but rather because of the economics of the job market for young blacks, and the appeal of the military as a new and permanent way of life.


Walter Morris, First Jump with the 1st Sgt. 555th Parachute Company Fort Benning Ga.

I wish that it were possible to name and write about every trooper who has ever enjoyed the prestige and spirit of being a Triple Nickler. But that cannot be done here. I hope that those who are unnamed in the pages that follow will recognize that in the history of each of us lies at least some of the history of all of us.

Because of my personal and professional involvement in the 555th from its inception, through integration and beyond, it has been difficult to avoid personal intrusions into this group portrait. I trust that my colleagues will understand, if not appreciate, this fact.

Smoke Jumpers
The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB)

Let us travel back to the origins of this unit, its conversion from a highly trained and combat ready parachute unit to the extremely dangerous role of "smoke jumping" and their performance in one of the best kept secret operations in World War II.


Smoke Jumpers -- Army paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion stand at ease during inspection. The men were issued the usual "let-down" ropes and football helmets with wire face masks, but wore sheepskin outer garments rather than canvas smokejumper suits.
Historical Note...Private First Class Malvin L. Brown, a medic and member of Headquarters Company, 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was the first smokejumper to perish on a fire jump. PFC Brown, a native of Narberth in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania died on August 6, 1945. His death occurred during a fire jump in the Siskiyou National Forest near Roseberg, Oregon.

Through December 1944 and January 1945, the Triple Nickles had continued to jump, maneuver, and grow to a strength of over four hundred battle-ready officers and men. During that same period a far more deadly action was taking place on the battlefields of Belgium - the Battle of the Bulge - the massive German counterattack in the Ardennes that began on 16 December 1944. It lasted more than a month and before the Germans were turned around, the American army had suffered some 77,000 casualties. Many of them had been paratroopers - men from General Jim Gavin's 82nd Airborne Division and General Maxwell Taylor’s 101st who had made the heroic stand at Bastogne. The cry was out for replacements, not only in paratroopers ranks but throughout the European Theater of Operation (ETO) combat command.

At last we thought we were going to tangle with Hitler, whose embarrassment at the 1936 Olympics of a Black American named Jesse Owens was fresh in our minds. We eagerly anticipated pitting the Nazis against another group of black champions - men like Walter Morris, "Tiger Ted" Lowry, Jab Allen, Edwin Wills, Jim Bridges, Roger Walden, the list goes on." Biggs recalls in his book THE TRIPLE NICKLES. He goes on to say that:

"We soon found that we would not go as a battalion but rather as a "reinforced company". The reason was simple, we had not trained or maneuvered as a battalion. The original orders authorizing the 555th said we would not begin such training until we had reached a strength of twenty-nine officers and six hundred enlisted men. This could have been achieved if commanders army-wide had released volunteers and approved scores of requests for parachute duty."


Early morning, 6 August 1945. Capt. Richard W. (Black Daddy) Williams, battalion executive officer, and 1st Lt. Clifford (Jabo) Allen, commanding officer, headquarters company, and jumpmaster for this “smoke jump” mission, peer through the open door of the Troop Carrier Command C-47 at the spot where they will drop 2nd Lt. Harry Sutton and his fire fighting team, Lt. Sutton, on the left, smiling and bareheaded, achieved immortal fame as the rifle company commander whose unit held the ridge overlooking the Hungnam-Hamburg sea evacuation. He was killed by a sniper a few days before the evacuation ended. Posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action, Sutton joined the ranks of Korean War heroes.

Eventually, the Triple Nickles would grow to more than thirteen hundred for duty, six hundred in jump training at Fort Benning and nineteen hundred on the morning report rosters. But for now the smaller number had some advantages. It had enabled them to concentrate on intensive individual and small-unit training. Riflemen, machine gunners and mortar men had sharpened their aim to perfection. Training in judo and other forms of hand-to-hand combat were intensified. They had time and opportunity to become superb combat men. No goof-offs were allowed.

Moreover, men could be sent to schools for special training as riggers, jumpmasters, pathfinders, demolition experts, and communications men. Jump demonstrations and small unit maneuvers had helped them to perfect the tactics and logistics essential to many paratrooper combat missions, especially those requiring no more than a company-size force, such as an attack on an enemy communications center, bridge, enemy headquarters or road junction.

So when the order came to "skeletonize" to one reinforced company of eight officers and 160 men, the battalion had a pool of the best from which to choose the super-best. It began with a downward shift of command, a move for which everyone was fully prepared. The battalion executive officer, for example Captain Richard W. Williams became the company commander. Williams, the eleventh officer to join the Triple Nickles, had come to the organization as a first lieutenant from the 92nd Infantry Division. A well-built, muscular man, he was known as a tough, aggressive officer, filled with imaginative ideas and a sense of adventure.


A group of "Triple Nickle" loadmasters heft fire gear into an Army air Corps C-47 at the Pendleton, OR, smokejumper base.

The battalion S3 (Plans and Training), lst Lt. Edwin Wills, the real "brains" of the training program, became the company executive officer. The commanders of A, B, and C rifle companies became platoon leaders, with each given his choice of an assistant platoon leader. Each former company commander chose his executive officer. First sergeants became platoon sergeants and platoon sergeants became squad leaders.

This special company was ready to take on anybody. But suddenly midway through the rigorous combat training, their destiny changed. By, April 1945, the German armies were collapsing. Americans were on the Elbe River - and would stay there. From the east the Russians were moving on Berlin, and the fall of the German capital was only weeks away. It seemed unlikely that any more paratroopers would be needed. In late April 1945, the battalion received new orders - a "permanent change of station" to Pendleton Air Base, Pendleton, Oregon for duty with the U.S. Ninth Service Command on a 'highly classified" mission in the U.S. northwest. No one had any idea of what the mission would be.

On 5 May 1945, the battalion left Camp Mackall for Oregon. The move was made in about six days. Ninety-eight percent of it by rail the rest by battalion motor vehicle or private auto - including Graphite. Sergeant Lowry and two other NCO’s brought the faithful old Ford cross-country. (Graphite was a two-door 1937 Ford, owned by Lt. Julius F. Lane and Lt. Bradley Biggs). It was the battalion’s service vehicle.



Apparently no one had noticed a brief Associated Press item that had appeared in the New York Times of 10 September 1944. With a Portland, Oregon dateline headed "Fire Fighters Use Parachutes", the story reported that: "Crews have been dropped by parachute to fight forest fire in many areas of the Northwest. A blistering summer sun indirectly caused fire in six areas in Idaho in the last 48 hours. An eight man unit crew was dropped to fight a blaze in the Lost Horse Pass Country of Idaho. Other parachutists were dropped into the back woods of Chelan National Forest to battle 300 acre Fire".

On 6 May, while the battalion was still en route west, a woman named Elsie Mitchell and five children were on a Fishing trip near Bly, Oregon. One of them found a strange object on the ground and the others went to investigate. Suddenly the object exploded, killing all six. First news reports said it was a blast of "unannounced cause".

Actually, the object had been a Japanese bomb that had traveled across the Pacific on a hydrogen-filled balloon. Though it remained a tightly-guarded secret for a time, the Mitchell's had been the victims of the first intercontinental air attack on this country. Since early November, 1944 the Japanese had been launching these "balloon bombs" - layered silk-like bags with clusters of incendiary bombs and explosives attached to them.



The secrecy continued even after one balloon caused a near calamity at the Hanford Engineering Works in Washington state, then turning out uranium slugs for the atomic bomb that would destroy Nagasaki. One of the balloons descending in the Hanford area became tangled in electrical transmission lines causing a temporary short circuit in the power for the nuclear reactor cooling pumps. Backup safety devices restored power almost immediately, but if the cooling system had been off a few minutes longer a reactor might have collapsed or exploded and this country could have had a Chernobyl for which it was totally unprepared. The havoc would have been unimaginable.

By January, 1945, however, both Time and Newsweek magazines had told of two woodchoppers near Kalispell, Montana who had found a balloon with Japanese markings on it. By the time the battalion arrived in Oregon the veil of secrecy was partially lifted. The War and Navy Departments had issued statements to the local populace describing the bombs and -warning people not to tamper with anything resembling them.

Thanks to Freeper Neil E. Wright for suggesting this Thread

[SAMWolf]

The balloons, we learned, were made of silk paper and were thirty-five feet in diameter. Filled with hydrogen, they would rise to a height of 25,000 to 35,000 feet. Then they would pick up prevailing air currents (latter called the "jet stream") from west to east across the Pacific.



Pictured above is the balloon portion and below is a side view of the ballast-dropping device on a balloon bomb. The jet stream carried the bombs across the Pacific to Northwest forests during 1944 and 1945.

Each time a balloon descended below 25,000 feet from loss of gas and cooling, a pressure switch automatically dropped a sandbag. This caused the balloon to rise again toward the 35,000 foot level. The balloons traveled up to 123 miles an hour, and took from 80 to 120 hours to reach the U.S., depending on weather. If the Japanese have it figured right the last sandbag has been dropped only after the balloon has reached this country. At that time a second automatic switch takes over.

When the balloon dropped to 27,000 feet a bomb was released. The balloon rose up and then down again and another bomb is released and so on. When the last incendiary or bomb was dropped, a fuse ignited automatically and set off a demolition charge which destroyed the balloon. Fortunately, all of the demolition charges didn't work and some balloons we recovered intact. As part of this joint operation the U.S. Air Corps was increasing its air patrols flown by P-51 aircraft to try to sight the balloons and shoot them down before they reached the coast. Watchers along the coast also gave sighting warnings for air patrol action.

Not mentioned publicly at the time was the possibility that Japan might equip the balloons with the capability to carry out some form of chemical-biological warfare. Their experiments with prisoners of war in the notorious unit 731 were not known until much later - but they began in 1937 and point to existence of a Japanese program to develop for use deadly biological agents. Such agents quite possibly could have been delivered in quantity to the United States mainland by balloons.

Also not mentioned was the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. By now they knew that they had acquired a new, temporary nickname, the "Smoke Jumpers", and that it would be part of the highly secret project known more officially as "Operation Firefly".

It was clear that the white people of Umatilla County were not used to seeing many black faces in their midst. Clearly there would be few of the joys of the service clubs and homes of Atlanta or Fayetteville. A few of the troopers and a handful of officers would finally be able to find passable living quarters in town where their families could join them. But these were few indeed.

When we arrived however, we had more pressing things than social life on our minds. We were assigned quarters in the center of the post garrison area, close to the airfield and operations shed. Once settled, Captain Porter, our commanding officer, and Lieutenant Wills, his S3, set out to get more details in our mission and operations plan.

The mission was soon clear enough. Working in teams out of Pendleton and Chico, California, we would be on emergency call to rush to forest fires in any of several western states and join with the forest service men in suppressing the blaze. At the same time, we would be prepared to move into areas where there were suspected Japanese bombs, cordon off the area, locate the bombs, and dispose of them.

But this, we found, would call for an entirely new training program. We knew how to jump from airplanes. But the heavily-forested areas of the northwest presented drop zones that were more difficult and more dangerous than any we had faced before. We knew, how to handle parachute lines. But here we would be using a new type of chute - one with special "shroud lines" for circling maneuvers. We knew how to read military maps, but the forestry service maps were something new. We were used to explosives, but we had little, if any, experience in the disarming of bombs - particularly any of Japanese origin.

Fire fighting was an entirely new experience

All of this and our past "jumper" experience, was a prelude to the great experience of integration. Our mind sets, individually and collective outlooks gave a new and different meaning to our lives.

Our new station, Pendleton Air Base, lay in Umatilla County, in northeastern Oregon. It was located on a plateau overlooking the town of Pendleton. The base at one time had accommodated B-29 bomber air corps training units. Now, with the war winding down, it had been skeletonized into "caretaker" status. The area was barren. We were the only unit except for control tower personnel and a small engineer maintenance contingent. A consolidated mess would feed the 555th officers and men together. It was, however, still commanded by a full colonel, a man who would quickly make it clear that he disliked having an all-black unit at his station. He was careful that we did not mix with his officers, that our area was inspected with undue meticulousness, and that the atmosphere of his office was "cool" to us. We didn't give a damn about all of that because we enjoyed eating with our men and our areas were always clean and well-policed. But we disliked the fact that we had to serve again under a prejudiced post commander. We had just left one at Mackall. And before that at Benning. Such was the 555th’s lot.

The colonel's views were shared by the white civilian population in the area. In Pendleton, then a town of about twelve thousand and famous as the home of the Pendleton Rodeo, the black soldiers, who were helping Oregon save its forests, and possibly some of its people, found it difficult to buy a drink or a meal. Only two bars and one restaurant would serve them anything.

Oregon had a long history of tensions over minority groups. First, in the nineteenth century, the Chinese had suffered not only discrimination but outright violence. In the early twentieth century the Japanese had been the targets. And in the 1920's, during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, Oregon and Indiana were the two northern state where the "invisible empire" seemed to find its most avid supporters. No doubt the Klan in Oregon had been motivated by anti-Catholic, anti-"foreign" nativism than by a fear of blacks who were a small target indeed. The 1930 census showed the black population of Oregon to have been 0.2 percent. It had hardly changed by 1940.

Fire fighting, of course, was an entirely new experience. And it was in this field that a new training began on 22 May. Wills set up one of his brilliant training schedules. It was a three week program which included demolition training, tree climbing and techniques for descent, if we landed in a tree, handling fire-fighting equipment, jumping into pocket-sized drop zones studded with rocks and tree stumps, first aide training for injuries—particularly broken bones. Troopers learned to do the opposite of many things they learned and used in normal--jumps like deliberately landing in trees instead of avoiding them.

Troopers would jump with full gear, including fifty feet of nylon rope for use in lowering themselves when they landed in a tree. Their steel helmets were replaced with football helmets with wire mesh face protectors. Covering their jumpsuits and/or standard army fatigues, they wore the air corps fleece-lined flying jacket and trousers. Gloves were standard equipment but not worn when jumping; bare hands manipulate shroud lines better.

Naturally their physical training program was intensified because missions often found troopers miles from civilization and in heavily wooded and mountainous terrain. It paid off handsomely in that few injuries occurred and only one death. On most of their missions troopers would work with forest rangers. The forest rangers could walk up the hills like a cat on a snake walk. They taught the tough paratroopers how to climb, use an ax and what vegetation to eat. At the time, troopers underwent an orientation program with forest service maps.

On 8 June, specially selected men began work with bomb disposal units of the Ninth Army Service Command, learning the business of handling unexploded bombs.

Then came a new parachute. The parachute training was under a civilian, Frank Derry, who had designed the special chute for jumping in heavily forested areas. A special feature of the "Derry chute" was its maneuverability. By pulling the white shroud line the chutist could turn himself into a 360 degree circling movement. This, in turn, gave him a wider choice of landing areas - a vital factor when trying to avoid tangles with the highest trees in the thickly-timbered areas.

The parachute training included three jumps, two in clearings and one in the heavy forest. The C-47 pilots who carried the 555th were a friendly, gung-ho lot, many of them were veterans recently back from flying "the hump" in Southeast Asia. Their spirit was a welcome relief from that which we encountered among most other whites in the area. Whenever a trooper was injured, the pilots often beat us to the hospital to see how the injured smoke jumper was doing. One group of smoke jumpers will never forget the pilot who brought them all home in one trip, when a rule-book flier might have made at least two trips.

By mid-July, the entire battalion had qualified as "Smoke Jumpers"-- the Army's first and only airborne firefighters. Soon their operations would range over at least seven western states, and in a few instances, southern Canada. And there would be two home bases - one in Pendleton, Oregon and one in Northern California at the Chico Air Base.

The main group would be based at Pendleton, with the mission of fighting fires and handling bombs in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. Another group of six officers and ninety-four men would be based at Chico, to provide coverage for California.

[SAMWolf]

FIRST FIRE CALL

The first fire call came in mid-July 1945 to suppress a blaze in Klamath National Forest in northern California. Between 14 and 18 July, the Chico contingent supplied fifty-six men. It was a successful mission with no injuries.

The first call for the Pendleton contingent come just a few days later on 20 July—to drop fifty-three men and two officers to fight a fire in the Meadow Lake National Forest in Idaho. The group took off at dawn in three planes, arrived over the drop zone (DZ) at 0830 hrs. Flying in trail formation, each plane made a low level (200 feet) pass over the fire area, looking for an acceptable DZ.

"After checking the wind by watching the smoke from the fire", Captain Biggs recalls, "the pilot and I made the decision on a one thousand foot drop—this was two hundred feet below the standard drop altitude. Swinging around to take advantage of the wind, the pilot gave me the green light and held the plane in a slow jump-attitude until I chose to jump. Once out, I did not manipulate or "slip" my chute—I just floated down like a wind dummy."



Meanwhile, the aircraft flew a 360-degree turn with the pilot and jumpmaster keeping their eyes on Capt. Biggs descent trajectory to see if he had made a timely exit; that is jumped at the correct landmark in order to land on the DZ without steering the chute. When he landed in the center of the DX, the pilot and the jumpmaster had their points of reference to follow. While they were trained to handle themselves if they landed in trees, most of the members chose clearings from force of habit and past experience.

During the initial pass of each C-47, an A5 container was dropped. The A5 contained axes, food, water, medical supplies and radio gear. This equipment was sufficient to sustain the group until they linked up with the forestry department personnel.

From 14 July to 6 October, the Chico and Pendleton units participated in thirty-six fire missions with individual jumps totaling twelve hundred. There were also casualties. In six months, more than thirty men suffered injuries from cuts and bruises to broken limbs and crushed chests. One typical report listed under "injuries": "1 EM (enlisted man) broken leg above knee, 1 EM knee out of place, 1 EM crushed chest."

On one jump in early August, one of the men suffered a spinal fracture. He remained on the scene throughout the fire fighting operation. Then, realizing his men were tired and short of food and water, he refused to burden them with the job of carrying him to the nearest airstrip. Somehow he managed to stand up and without help, walked straight-backed for eighteen miles to the strip where his units would be picked up by C-47 for the return trip to Pendleton. He spent weeks in the Walla Walla Hospital. Pure Guts!

Tragically, one man lost his life. The ill-fated trooper had landed in the top of a tall tree. In attempting to climb out his harness and lower himself with a rope that each man carried, he apparently slipped or lost his grip and crashed into a rock bed 150 feet below. It took three days for patrols to find his body.



Capt. Biggs recalls, "that all was not work. On 4 July we staged demonstration jumps for the local populace. We saw the famous Pendleton Rodeo. Killer Kane and I learned to fly from two grand guys, Pat Stubbs and Farley Stewart. We went to movies and took time to hunt and fish. I spent my spare bucks flying and seeing the west. We had storytelling sessions nightly at the BOQ. And we found the black WAC Company at Walla Walla Air Base happy to visit us (and our accommodations). Meanwhile, Graphite was serving as battalion taxi, cargo vehicle, and most loaned-out vehicle for anyone needing a ride to town.

For the first time in the annals of military history of any nation, a military organization of paratroopers was selected to become "Airborne Firefighters". The Triple Nickles became not only the first military fire fighting unit in the world, but pioneered methods of combating forest fires that are still in use today.

The conduct of The Triple Nickles during the heretofore highly secret and untold story contributed immeasurably to the well-being of most Japanese Americans in internment camps. If it were known that the Japanese balloons, the first unmanned intercontinental ballistic missiles, had been successful in reaching our shores, the Japanese military machine would have strengthened its efforts in that area. If the secrecy of the 555th’s operation had been broken, there is no telling what additional maltreatment would have befallen the incarcerated Japanese in western camps.

In October 1945, the battalion was assigned to the 27th Headquarters and Headquarters Special Troops, First Army, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In December, it was attached to the13th Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, where it proceeded to discharge "high point" personnel.

In February 1946, after two months of no supervision and watching friends leave for home, the 555th was relieved from attachment to the 13th Airborne Division and attached to the 82nd Airborne Division for administration, training, and supply. It retained its own authority to discipline and manage its own personnel matters. Further attachment was made to the 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment, then commanded by a colonel whose name will go down in history as the originator of "search and destroy missions" in Vietnam. General William C. Westmoreland.



As an integral part of the 82nd Airborne, the finest American division of World War II and commanded then by Major General James M. Gavin, a man who unlike so many white commanders, was color-blind, 555th went on to become the first in many key areas of military innovations. Pioneering in integrating the Army was not the least among them, an action that changed forever the character of the Army and the nation. Today it is an acceptable fact that this pioneering by the 555th created the modern Army of today. And further, this achievement spread into all sectors of society. For original Smoke Jumpers it is gratifying to know than many of the techniques and equipment tested and developed during "Operation Firefly" are still in use in both civilian and military fire fighting missions.

Traditional wisdom conveys to us that past events and history carry the portents and guidance for the future. Dismissing that antiquated notion, these black soldiers relied on human perceptions of the known conduct of black military men in the familiar hostile white environment both military and civilian. There was no necessity to try to philosophize, theorize and intellectualize their role and contribution. Theirs was a new phenomenon to all walks of American society and the meaning of the experience of pioneering in becoming the first military "Smoke Jumpers" in the world. They shunted the windows of the past and dominated this scene by values of character, drive, pride and unity.

Additional Sources:

www.wwiiadt.com
www.universitypark.org
www.thedropzone.org
www.fatherryan.org
lcweb2.loc.gov

[SAMWolf]

How Balloon Bombs Work



The balloons were designed to rise to a height between 32,000 and 38,000 feet and stay aloft for some 65 to 70 hours. At this height, they would be carried by the jet stream (which was unknown to the rest of the world at the time) at a speed of 100 to 200 mph to the United States.

The balloon bombs were released from Japan in the winter months when the jet stream is the strongest. They popped up to altitude (20,000 to 40,000 ft.) and if they were lucky into the stream.

They traveled along in an easterly direction crossing the Pacific at around 200 mph in the jet stream. In daytime they would ride at the maximum altitude but as time wore on they would sink. At night they would collect dew and become heavy.

Below a set height the altimeter would cause a set of blow plugs (charges that released the ballast) to fire releasing the sand bag ballast. The lost of weight would cause the balloon to pop back up to altitude. This continued till all the sand bags were gone.

The last ballast was the armament. Thermite bombs were armed and dropped in the last positions on the ring. Anti-personnel bombs were also used.

After all the ballast was gone a picric acid block blew up destroying the gondola. A fuse was lit that was connected to a charge on the balloon itself. The hydrogen and air mixture burned the balloon envelope up as a large orange fireball

[SAMWolf]

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

Thanks to CholeraJoe for providing this link.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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PDN members and fans. We hope you will consider this simple act of patriotism worth passing on or taking up as a project in your own back yard. In summary:

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What They Are Doing: We are gathering 12.5"x12.5" quilt squares from across the country and assembling the largest quilt ever produced. When completed we will take the quilt from state to state and gather even more squares.

Why They Are Doing This: We are building this quilt to rally support for the Coalition Forces in Iraq and to show the service members that they are not forgotten. We want the world to know Nothing will ever break the stitches that bind us together as a country.

Ideas to start a local project:

Obtain enough Red, White and Blue material (cloth) for a 12.5 x 12.5 quilt square.
If you have someone in your family that sews, make it a weekend project and invite neighbors to join you.

Consider this tribute as a project for your civic group, scouts, church or townhall group.

Locate an elementary school with an after school program in your neighborhood or locate an after school program in your neighborhood not attached to a school and ask if you could volunteer one or two afternoons and create some squares with the kids.

Invite some VFW posts to share your project in honor of their post.

Send us webmaster@patriotwatch.com for digital photos of in progress and finished project for various websites, OIFII.com and the media.

PDN is making this appeal in support of Operation: Stitches Of Love
Media Contact: Deborah Johns (916) 716-2749
Volunteers & Alternate Media: PDN (916) 448-1636

Your friends at PDN

---

The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Wednesday Morning Everyone.





If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[SAMWolf]

Congrats to Professional Engineer and Msdrby

Welcome Abigail Elizabeth Ann

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam. Thanks for the movie.

[SAMWolf]

AWWWWW! What a cute Pup!! Good Night, SNippy.

[Neil E. Wright]

Hiya kids .... :)

HERE'S TO THE TRIPLE NICKELS!! MAY MEMORY OF THEIR ACTIONS AND DEVOTION TO DUTY ENDURE FOREVER!! This old sailor SALUTES YOU, members of the 555th!!!!

±

"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty."
Toward FREEDOM

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Congratulations, Professional Engineer on the birth of your new baby girl.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[Tax-chick]

Congratulations, PE and Mrs. What a beautiful girl!

[The Mayor]

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but . . . let each esteem others better than himself. —Philippians 2:3

You can't lose when you help others win.

[The Mayor]

Professional Engineer
Congratulations and Welcome!
Abigail Elizabeth Ann

She is so cute!

[tomball]

 

 

 

Good Morning Foxhole

 

[Johnny Gage]

Welcome to Free Republic Abigail
Congratulations to P.E. and Msrdy

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[GailA]

Congrats, hope mom and baby doing well.

Coffee's on

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 12:
1670 August II the Strong One, King of Poland (355 children)
1729 Michaël F B Freiherr von Melas Austrian general (7 Year Wars)
1803 Justus Freiherr von Liebig German chemist (agricultural chemicals)
1804 Robert Baldwin (L) helped establish cabinet government in Canada
1806 Amos Beebe Eaton Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1877
1812 Edward Lear England, landscape painter, (Complete Nonsense Book)
1812 Louis Ludwig Blenker Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1820 Florence Nightingale Florence Italy, nurse (Crimean War)
1828 Gabriel Dante Rossetti England, poet/painter, Pre-Raphaelite
1842 Jules Emile Fred Massenet Montaud France, composer (Manon, Le Cid)
1880 Lincoln Ellsworth led 1st transarctic, transantarctic flights
1903 Wilfrid Hyde-White England, actor (My Fair Lady, Peyton Place)
1906 William M Ewing US geologist/geophysicist
1907 Katharine Hepburn Hartford CT, actress (African Queen, Adam's Rib, On Golden Pond)
1907 Leslie Charteris English/US detective writer (Enter the Saint)
1910 Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin British chemist (penicillin/B12/Nobel 1964)
1914 Howard K Smith Los Angeles CA, TV newsman (ABC, Moderated Kennedy-Nixon debate)
1923 Lord Laing English biscuit manufacturer/pilot/multi-millionaire
1925 John Simon theater critic (New York Times)
1925 Lawrence "Yogi" Berra New York Yankee catcher/coach/manager, Mets, Astros
1929 Burt Bacharach Kansas City MO, composer (I'll Never Fall in Love Again)
1936 Tom Snyder Milwaukee WI, newscaster (Tommorow, NBC Weekend News)
1937 George Carlin Bronx NY, comedian (7 words you can't say on television, AM & FM, Carwash)
1937 Gerry E Studds (Representative-D-MA, 1973- )
1939 Ronald Ziegler press secretary (Nixon)
1942 Barry B[rookes] Longyear US, sci-fi author (City of Baraboo)
1943 David Walker rock keyboardist (Gary Lewis & Playboys-Diamond Ring)
1944 James Purify US singer (I'm Your Puppet)
1945 Linda Carlson Knoxville TN, actress (Bev-Newhart, Katie-Kaz)
1945 Willie Parnell US singer (Archie Bell & the Drells)
1948 Steve Winwood Birmingham England, singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Traffic(Freedom Rider, 40,000 headman, low Spark of High heel boys)
1950 Bruce Boxleitner Elgin IL, actor (Scarecrow & Mrs King, Babylon 5)
1955 Kix Brooks Shreveport LA, singer (Brooks & Dunn-Brand New Man)
1958 Christian Brando son of Marlon/killed sister's boyfriend
1959 Dave Christian Minnesota, NHL right wing (Washington Capitals, Olympics-gold-1980)
1962 Emilio Estevez New York NY, actor (Breakfast Club, Young Guns, Mighty Ducks)
1963 Vanessa Williams Brooklyn NY, actress (Rhonda Blair-Melrose Place)
1969 Kim Fields Freeman Los Angeles CA, actress (Tootie-Facts of Life, Regine-Living Single)
1972 Annette Albertson Reno NV, Miss America-Nevada (1997)
1975 Lawrence Phillips running back (St Louis Rams)

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Deaths which occurred on May 12:
0912 Leo VI Sophos Byzantine Emperor (886-912), dies at 45
1003 Sylvester II [Gerbert van Aurillac], 1st French Pope (999-1003), dies
1012 Sergius IV [Pietro Crescentii], Italian Pope (1009-12), dies
1641 Thomas Wentworth English viceroy of Ireland, beheaded at 48
1814 Robert Treat Paine US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 83
1864 Abner Monroe Perrin Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 37
1864 J E B Stuart Confederate General, dies at 31
1871 John F W Herschel British astronomer (Catalogue of Nebulae), dies
1921 Emilia Pardo Bazan Spanish writer (La sirena negra), dies
1932 Lindbergh baby found dead
1944 Arthur T Quiller-Couch [Q] British author/critic, dies at 80
1957 Erich von Stroheim Austrian/US actor (Grand Illusion), dies at 71
1962 Dick Calkins co-author (Buck Rogers), dies at 67
1970 Wladyslaw Anders Polish general (WWI, WWII), dies at 78
1980 Lillian Roth actress (Animal Crackers, Alice Sweet Alice), dies
1984 Doris May actress (Peck's Bad Boy), dies of heart failure at 81
1989 Joe Valdez Caballero creator of hard taco shell, dies at 81
1992 Robert Reed actor (Brady Bunch), dies of AIDs at 59
1996 Hubert William Dean air armaments specialist, dies at 84
1996 Robert Edwin Hall mountaineer/businessman, dies at 35

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 ASHLOCK CARLOS---PHILADELPHIA PA.
1967 AGOSTO SANTOS---JOSE PR.
[01/23/68 RELEASED / POW EXCHANGE]
1967 GRENZEBACH EARL WILFRE JR.---WORCHESTER NY.
1967 GADDIS NORMAN C.---KNOXVILLE TN.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 JEFFERSON JAMES M.---SAN DIEGO CA.
[REMAINS ID 06/05/00]
1967 PITMAN PETER P.---ATLANTA GA.
1967 STEWART ROBERT A.---WASHINGTON DC.
1968 BUCHER BERNARD L.---EUREKA IL.
1968 COEN HARRY B.---RIVERTON WY.
1968 CRAVEN ANDREW J.---WILMINGTON NC.
1968 HEPLER FRANK M.---GLENSIDE PA.
1968 LONG JULIUS W. JR.---PULASKI WA.
[03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG]
1968 LONG GEORGE W.---MEDICINE KS.
1968 MOORE MAURICE H.---BALTIMORE MD.
1968 MC ELROY JOHN L.---SCHENECTADY NY.
1968 MORELAND STEPHEN C.---LOS ANGELES CA.
1968 ORR WARREN R. JR.---KEWANEE IL.
1968 RANSBOTTOM FREDERICK J.---OKLAHOMA CITY OK.
1968 SIMPSON JOSEPH L.---DENVER CO.
1968 SKIVINGTON WILLIAM E. JR.---LAS VEGAS NV.
1968 SANDS RICHARD E.---SPRINGFIELD IL.
1968 STULLER JOHN C.---FALLS CHURCH VA.
1968 WIDNER DANNY L.----GRAHAM TX.
1968 WILLIAMS ROY C.---WOODVILLE TX.
1968 WIDDISON IMLAY S.---WOODS CROSS UT.
1970 PREISS ROBERT F. JR.---CORNWALL NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED IDENTIFIED 06/30/98]
1972 ADAIR SAMUEL Y. JR.---MADISON GA.
[REMAINS RECOVERED 11/74]
1972 BOGARD LONNIE P.---MATARIE LA.
1972 CRESSEY DENNIS C.---CHEYENNE WY.
[11/74 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1972 OSTERMEYER WILLIAM H.---ORLANDO FL.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

---

On this day...
0254 St Stephan I replaces Lucius I as Catholic Pope
0919 Duke Henry of Saxon becomes king Henry I of Oostfrankische
1082 Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austria
1215 English barons serve ultimatum( magna carta) on King John (known as "Lack land")
1328 Louis IV de Beier selects P Rainalducci as anti-Pope Nicolaas V
1551 San Marcos University in Lima Peru, opens
1588 Catholic League under duke Henri de Guise occupies Paris France
1640 Uprising against Spanish king Philip IV
1641 Prince Willem II (14) marries English princess Henriette Mary Stuart (9)
1701 Drenthe adopts Gregorian calendar (yesterday is 4/29/1701)
1733 Maria Theresa crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague
1777 1st ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-New York Gazette)
1780 Charleston SC falls to the British (Revolutionary War)
1789 Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers - It later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses
1792 Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented
1862 Federal troops occupies Baton Rouge LA
1863 Battle of Raymond MS
1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia
1864 Battle of Todd's Tavern VA (Sheridan's Raid)
1864 Butler attacks Drewry's Bluff on James River (Fort Darling)
1865 Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas
1870 Manitoba becomes a province of Canada
1871 Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville KY
1874 US Assay Office in Helena MT authorized
1875 1st recorded shutout in pro baseball, Chicago 1, St Louis 0
1881 Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate
1885 Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against Canada
1888 Crouching start 1st used by Charles Sherrill of Yale
1890 Louisiana legalized prize fighting
1897 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente Netherlands
1897 Battle at Thessalië: Turkish army beats Greece
1898 Louisiana adopts new constitution with "grandfather clause" designed to eliminate black voters
1908 Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield
1915 Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250
1915 Franklin K Mathiews, presents the idea of "Book Week"
1917 43rd Kentucky Derby: Charles Borel on Omar Khayyam wins in 2:04.6
1926 Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Symphony, premieres in Leningrad
1926 Umberto Nobile flies Airship Norge is 1st vessel to fly over the North Pole
1928 Mussolini ends woman's rights in Italy
1932 Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell NJ
1932 Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney
1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers
1938 Sandoz Labs manufactures LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
1940 Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Meuse River
1941 Great British convoy marches into Alexandria
1942 1,500 Jews gassed in Auschwitz
1942 David Ben-Gurion leaves Jewish state in Palestine
1942 Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River
1942 Russia occupies Crackow, until August 23, 1943
1943 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in US
1943 German troops in Tunisia North Africa surrender
1944 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brüx
1944 Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat
1948 Queen Wilhelmina resigns
1949 1st foreign woman ambassador received in US (S V L Pandit India)

1949 West begins Berlin Airlift to get supplies around Soviet blockade

1951 1st H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll
1955 Chicago Cub Sam Jones is 1st black to pitch no-hitter (Pirates, 4-0)
1956 Brooklyn Dodger Carl Erskine's 2nd no-hitter, beats New York Giants, 3-0
1956 East Pakistan struck by cyclone & tidal waves (of course it was. That's why it's there)
1958 "Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" by Dicky Doo & The Dont's hits #40
1959 Liz Taylor's 4th marriage (Eddie Fisher)
1960 Elvis Presley appears on a Frank Sinatra special
1963 Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show
1963 Race riot in Birmingham AL
1965 Israel & West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations
1967 H Rap Brown replaces Stokely Carmichael as chairman of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
1968 "March of Poor" under rev Abernathy reach Washington DC
1969 Kenneth H Wallis achieved record speed for an autogiro-179 KPH
1970 Harry A Blackmun is confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court
1971 Rolling Stone Mick Jagger weds Bianca Macias at St Tropez Town Hall
1972 Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)
1973 "Dueling Tubas" by Martin Mull hits #92
1975 US merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces
1978 Commerce Department announces that hurricane names will no longer be exclusively female
1980 1st nonstop crossing of US via balloon (Maxie Anderson & son Chris)
1982 In Fatima Portugal, a Spanish priest with a bayonet is stopped prior to his attempt to attack Pope John Paul II
1983 Julie Lynne Hayek, (California), crowned 32nd Miss USA
1984 Joe Lucius scored his 13th hole-in-one on the same hole
1984 South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years
1984 World of Rivers world exposition opens in New Orleans
1985 Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
1986 Fred Markham (US), unpaced & unaided by wind, is 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat CA
1986 President Reagan appoints Dr James C Fletcher NASA Administrator
1989 Retired British pilot Jack Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists
1990 3rd time Saturday Night Live uses time delay (Andrew Dice Clay hosts)
1990 Nora Dunn & Sinead O'Connor boycott Saturday Night Live to protest Andrew "Dice" Clay's hosting
1993 Last broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV
1997 14 North Koreans defect to South Korea
1997 Russia & Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict
1997 Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is 1st to swim from Cuba to Florida
1997 Tornado narrowly misses downtown Miami

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Abbotsbury Dorsetshire England : Garland Day
Finland : Snellman Day (1806)
Khmer Republic : Constitution Day (1972)
US : National Hospital Day (1921)
US : Third Shift Workers Day
US : National Limerick Day
National Birds of Prey Month

---

Religious Observances
Bhuddist-Burma : Buddha's Birthday
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Domitilla, martyr
Roman Catholic : Memorial of SS Nereus, Achilleus martyrs (optional)
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Pancras, Roman martyr (optional)
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Rogation Day

---

Religious History
254 St. Stephen I began his reign as the Catholic Church's 23rd pope. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," it was Stephen who instituted the rule that clerics should wear special clothes at their ministrations.
1310 Fifty-four Knights Templars were burned at the stake as heretics in France. Established during the Crusades to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, this military order came into increasing conflict with Rome until Clement V officially dissolved it in 1312 at the Council of Vienna.
1891 The Presbytery of New York voted to put the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Briggs, the new professor of biblical theology at Union Theological Seminary, on trial for heresy.
1907 Birth of Sidney N. Correll, founder and first General Director (1946-1971) of United World Mission, Inc. This evangelical missions organization is involved worldwide in evangelism, church planting and Christian education.
1938 In Holland, the four-day convention at Utrecht ended, at which the Provisional Constitution for the World Council of Churches was adopted.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

Thought for the day :
"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."

---

Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told

---

Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
Ayn Rand: A chicken's first duty is to itself. And only by living for itself is it able to achieve the things which are the glory of chickenkind. Such is the nature of achievement.

---

Fun things to do when driving...
Vary your vehicle’s speed inversely with the speed limit.

---

What The Company Really Means...
"MUST BE DEADLINE ORIENTED:"
You'll be six months behind schedule on your first day.

[Valin]

It wasn't easy. A proud black lieutenant, sergeant, or private, with polished boots and paratrooper wings,
still had to use the "colored" toilets and
drinking fountains in the railroad stations,
sit in segregated sections of theaters,
and go out of his way to avoid confrontations with racist police.
Black officers continued to find post officers' club closed to them.

Remind me again how nothing has changed in this country?