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Static Line - Three Winds of Death

March 1992
HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE 503rd PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT (later to become the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team). The formative years of the initial Airborne units can be very confusing as Battalions became regiments and later regiments became divisions. I'll attempt to give you a brief chronology and hope that it is correct. If it isn't, call or write and get me squared away.
 
The 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion was activated on Oct. 1, 1940, and its ranks were filled by the first week of November with members of the test platoon. The last member of the battalion completed jump training in mid-March 1941. Company C of the 501st Bn. was ordered to the Panama Canal Zone on 28 June 1941 and three more companies arrived by the Fall of 41. In July 1941 the 502nd Parachute Infantry Bn. was activated with cadres coming from Companies "A" and "B " of the 501st, who were still at Benning. On 22 August 1941, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Battalion was activated with Major Robert F. Sink commanding, and most of the officers were trained jumpers. On 5 October 1941, the 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion was activated. The entire 504th Bn. entered and left jump school as a unit, and its members were also the first to receive their wings "en masse." Because of crowded conditions at Fort Benning, the 503rd and 504th parachute battalions wore moved to Fort Bragg  North Carolina. About this time now War Department orders called for the formation of four parachute regiments with cadres drawn from the existing parachute battalions.
 
On 2 March 1942, the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated with a cadre coming from the 502nd Bn. Also on 2 March 1942, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment was formed by uniting the 503rd and 504th battalions. The former became the First Battalion and the latter became the Second Battalion of this first operable parachute regiment. On 20 May 1942, less than three months after the formation of the 503rd, Colonel Miley was ordered to provide a parachute battalion for overseas duty In Europe. He released the Second Battalion (originally the 504th Bn.). This unique and distinguished battalion would later become the famed 509th Parachute Battalion after its initial baptism of fire in North Africa. The action of this battalion in North Africa is contained in a paperback book, available from the Static Line, entitled We Jumped to Fight by Colonel Edson D. Raff the CO of the 2nd Bn. of the 503rd Parachute Infantry. This action by this 503rd Parachute regimental unit was the first invasion by a U.S.A. airborne force.
 
The departure of the Second Battalion of the 503rd for Europe left the First Bn. all alone at Fort Bragg. On 4 June 1942, the War Department authorized the activation of the Third Battalion of the 503rd Parachute Regiment. Command went to Major John J. Tolson, III. Troopers who formed this battalion came from the cadre of the 502nd PIR (actually still the 502nd Bn.). In early October 1942, the First and Third Battalions at Fort Bragg were alerted of a move. The strength of the First Battalion was increased by an Influx of jumpers from other airborne units and on 10 October Major General Ridgway. commander of the 82nd Airborne Division personally delivered "A" Company of the newly activated 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The first week in November 1942 the 501st Bn. less Company C was added in Panama and became the 2nd Bn. of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The Regiment then began its Pacific journey on the converted Dutch freighter the Poelau Laul Into the pages of history. The Initial voyagers would later be joined by the addition of the 462nd Parachute Field Artillery Bn. and Company C of the 161st Parachute Engineer Bn. to form the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team. And hundreds of replacements would join the ranks of the 503rd over the next 3 years. HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY! All of the dated material has been taken from the book Three Winds of Death by Bennell M. Guthrie. 

I got a call from Earl Chase who was in Hdqs Co. of the 2nd Bn. in communications. Earl was a member of the 501 Bn. who joined the 503rd on its stop-over in Panama. Earl related that when he took his airborne training there were no class numbers and no jump towers. He will become a member of the 503rd Association and is very active in the VFW and is scheduled to be the Montana state commander in two years. Earl's address is 1633 Cox Lane. Troy, Montana. His phone number is (406) 295-5758. Got a Letter from Hugh Breslin with the info that sailors from LCI 652 will be holding a reunion in Columbus. Ohio after Memorial Day and the 503rd is always a topic of discussion at their reunions. This is just to alert the 503rd people in the area. Much more on this next month.

May you always see a canopy above your head! 

John D. Reynolds
"D" Co. 503rd PRCT 
718 Towne Center Drive, Joppa, MD 21085 
PH (410) 679-8979
Static Line - Three Winds of Death

InThe503rd.org

503rd PRCT Paratrooper Database, WWII

503rd PIR * 462nd PFAB * 161st PEC
