The 505th Infantry Regiment (505th IR), formerly and colloquially the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (505th PIR) and the 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment (505th AIR), is an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army, one of four infantry regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army, with a long and distinguished history.
Activated in July 1942 during World War II, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily, later landing at Salerno, the Battle of Normandy, the Netherlands and the Battle of the Bulge. During the 1960s, the 505th was one of the units which played a role in Operation Power Pack in the Dominican Republic and later assisted local authorities during the civil disturbances which occurred within the United States. The regiment was sent to the Republic of Vietnam in 1968 during the Vietnam War. After the Vietnam War, the 505th participated in various military operations. Among them were Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The regiment's most recent engagement has been in Afghanistan. The brigade deployed to Afghanistan from July 2019 to March 2020. Currently its 1st and 2nd battalions are active. Both battalions are assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
History World War II Under the command of Colonel James M. Gavin, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia on 6 July 1942, during World War II, as part of the U.S. Airborne Command. Gavin, then just 35, was an early airborne pioneer, who led the men of the 505th through some extremely grueling training. In early 1943, for instance, he noted in his diary, "In 36 hours the regiment had marched well over 50 miles, maneuvered and seized an airhead and defended it from counterattack while carrying full combat loads and living off reserve rations". In February 1943, the 505th was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway, then stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The other two regiments serving alongside the 505th were the 504th PIR and the 325th Glider Infantry Regiments, and other supporting units. In late March the 505th was visited by many distinguished political and military leaders, including, among numerous others, General George C. Marshall, General Henry H. Arnold, British Field Marshal Sir John Dill and Anthony Eden.
In April, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily (codenamed Operation Husky), the regiment was moved to Tunisia, in North Africa, where they completed six weeks of training. The 505th (organized into a regimental combat team with the addition of the 3rd Battalion of the 504th, along with the 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and 'C' Company of the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion temporarily attached) made its first combat jump behind enemy lines into Gela in the early hours of 10 July 1943, which was the first regimental sized combat jump in the history of the United States Army. High winds on the 505th's drop zone caused a large number of the regiment to be scattered all over the island, with up to 100 men landing in the British Eighth Army's sector. The 505th suffered heavy losses during the relatively brief campaign, including Lieutenant Colonel Arthur F. Gorham, the 1st Battalion commander, who was killed. The regiment then returned to North Africa in August for refit to absorb replacements before taking part in the assault on Salerno, on the night of 14 September, where they made their second combat jump. The regiment continued to fight in the Italian campaign, where the 505th, aided by tanks of the British 23rd Armoured Brigade, captured the city of Naples in early October, later helping the Allies breach the Volturno Line before returning to Naples for occupation duty.
In October Gavin was promoted to brigadier general and became the assistant division commander (ADC) of the 82nd Airborne Division. Gavin was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Herbert F. Batcheller, formerly the regimental executive officer (XO). Soon afterwards, the 505th was pulled back to the United Kingdom, together with the rest of the 82nd Airborne Division (minus the 504th PIR) where they began training for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Originally sent to Northern Ireland, the 505th went to Quorn in Leicestershire, in the Midlands region of England in February 1944 and began strenuous training in preparation for the invasion.
In the American airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944, the 505th PIR actually jumped before its scheduled "H-Hour", thus earning their motto "H-minus". Upon completing operations in the Ste. Mere-Eglise area, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. In September 1944, the unit then participated in Operation Market Garden, in which the regiment received a second Presidential Unit Citation. The 505th later, in December 1944, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest battle fought on the Western Front during World War II. By the end of the war, the 505th was awarded three foreign distinguished unit citations: the French fourragère, the Netherlands Military Order of William, and the Belgium fourragère. Following the German surrender in May 1945, the regiment served as part of the Allied occupation force in Berlin.
Three of the five members of the 82nd Airborne Division to receive the Distinguished Service Cross twice during World War II were members of the regiment. They were the regiment's first commander, then-Colonel James M. Gavin, the 1st Battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur F. Gorham and the 2nd Battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin H. Vandervoort.
Post World War II After the war, the 505th returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1947, the 3rd Battalion was reduced to zero strength. The separate 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the "Triple Nickles") the army's only all-black airborne unit, was then inactivated, and its paratroopers were reassigned to the 505th's 3rd Battalion. Soon after, its black paratroopers began to be reassigned as individuals throughout the 82nd Airborne Division, making it the first division in the U.S. Army to become fully integrated. In June 1957, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment was reorganized and redesignated as the 505th Infantry Regiment and relieved from assignment to the 82nd. This marked the end of the era of infantry regiments as tactical units and the beginning of the Pentomic era, in which regimental numbers were used for the purpose of perpetuating lineages and honors.
Effective 1 September 1957 the lineage of Company A, 505 PIR was reorganized and redesignated as HHC, 1st Airborne Battle Group, 505th Infantry, and remained assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated). It was relieved on 15 January 1959 from assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division and assigned to the 8th Infantry Division in Germany as part of a rotation that saw both 1-505th and 1-504th depart the 82nd. When the Pentomic era ended, 1-504th and 1-505th were reflagged respectively as 1st and 2nd Battalions (Airborne), 509th Infantry, elements of the 1st Brigade (Airborne), 8th Infantry Division on 1 April 1963. The colors of 1-505th returned to the 82nd, where they were reorganized and redesignated on 25 May 1964 as the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry, an element of the 3rd Brigade.
On 30 April 1965, the 3rd Brigade was alerted for combat as part of "Operation Power Pack", the defense of the Dominican Republic against communist insurgents. Within 18 hours, the first C-130 landed at San Isidro Airfield, Dominican Republic. After two months of bitter fighting, the 3rd Brigade returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
On 24 July 1967, the 3rd Brigade deployed to Detroit, Michigan to assist local authorities in quelling a civil disturbance.
Vietnam War
Less than a year later, on 12 February 1968, the 3rd Brigade was alerted for deployment to South Vietnam in response to the Tet Offensive. Many members of the 3rd Brigade had recently returned from Vietnam and were not required, by the Army's own regulations, to return so soon if they did not wish to do so. About two-thirds of those eligible accepted transfers out of the brigade, which was back-filled from other units in the Division. The brigade deployed on "temporary change of station" orders with the expectation that it would return to Fort Bragg after the Tet emergency was resolved. When it was decided to retain the brigade in Vietnam its status was changed to "permanent change of station" and all soldiers who had deployed with the brigade were given the option of continuing to serve a full tour in Vietnam or to return to Fort Bragg. Most (except for junior officers and junior enlisted men) had already served at least one combat tour and opted to return to CONUS. The brigade was then filled with replacements from across USARV and from CONUS. Most replacements were not airborne qualified and the brigade eventually became "Airborne" in name only – just as the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Airborne Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division had already done during Vietnam service.
The infantry battalions assigned to the 3rd Brigade during its Vietnam tour were 1-505th, 2-505th, and 1-508th.
After 22 months of fighting, the brigade had helped secure the region south of the DMZ and redeployed to Fort Bragg in December 1969, the only brigade of the 82d Airborne Division to participate in the Vietnam War.
Post-Vietnam Following its return from Vietnam, the 3rd Brigade again participated in controlling civil disturbances, deploying to Washington, D.C., in May 1971 to help local and federal officials in their efforts to keep demonstrators from disrupting the daily operations of the government. In August 1980, the brigade's 1st Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry was alerted and deployed to conduct civil disturbance duty at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania during the Cuban refugee internment.
The 1st Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry deployed to the Middle East in March 1982 as the first United States member unit of the Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. 1-505 PIR returned home in August 1982 from the most important peacekeeping mission in history.
In October 1983, the 3d Brigade deployed to the country of Grenada to evacuate US citizens and establish a US-aligned government during Operation Urgent Fury. B Company deployed initially, and took command of the island of Carriocou north of Grenada. The 1/505 was the 3rd Infantry Battalion to land on the island with the remainder of 2-505 air-landed on Point Salines airfield and captured General Hudson Austin on Westerhall Point as a direct result of an airmobile block and sweep which captured General Austin holding hostages in a waterfront haven. Once surrounded, Austin sent an emissary to LTC Keith Nightingale with the message "Let us leave or we will kill all the hostages." LTC Nightingale called in Cobra attack helicopters and sent back the message, "You and everyone and the house surrenders now, or else I will blow you and everyone in the house to Hell". General Hudson Austin capitulated at that point, thus ending the revolt. The 2-505 established bases around the rest of the island. The Battalion communications officer, Jim Adams, managed to secure the communications facility at the top of Mount Saint Catherine's and secure communications back to Fort Bragg, thereby establishing a communications links back to the Special Operations Division at Fort Bragg.
In September 1989, the 2-505th PIR was tasked to serve as part of the Multi-National Forces and observers in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula ending in March 1990.