82nd+Airborne+Division

The 82nd Airborne Division was formed on August 25, 1917 at Camp Gordon, Georgia. At the time, Alaska and Hawaii were not yet part of the United States. So since members came from all 48 states, the unit was called “All Americans”. This is why the patch of the 82nd Airborne Division says “AA” on it. After five months of combat against the German Imperial army in 1918, the All American Division was demobilized. It would be more than 20 years later until the division would be called back into action.On March 25, 1942, the All American Division was reactivated due to the events of World War II. This was when the All American Division was renamed the 82nd Airborne Division. The first two assaults were into Salerno and Sicily, Italy on July 9th and September 13, 1943. In fall 1943, the 82nd was taken out of Italy and brought to the United Kingdom to get ready for the liberation of Europe. The operation they were preparing for was Operation Neptune, the invasion of Normandy. Soldiers from the 507th and 508th division joined the 82nd Airborne due to its reduced state after the assault on Italy. On June 5th, 1994, the airmen of the 82nd Airborne Division boarded aircraft for Normandy. They were the first soldiers to fight at Normandy. It was over a month before the division was brought back to England. 5,245 paratroopers were missing, wounded or even killed. After the invasion, the 82nd airborne joined the Airborne Corps along with the 17th and 101st airborne division. On September 17, the 82nd Airborne Division had its fourth jump of World War II. They fought German counterattacks while capturing its objectives in Nijmegen and Grave. However their allies were defeated at Arnhem. In 1946, the 82nd Airborne Division returned to its new base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In the 50s and 60s, soldiers in the 82nd Airborne went through many training exercises in Panama, Alaska and the continental United States. In 1968, they were enroute to Chu Lai to fight in the Vietnam War. They faced combat in Hue-Phu Bai, Saigon, the Mekong Delta, the Iron Triangle and the Cambodian border. Upon return to Fort Bragg, the division continued to send units to the Republic of Korea, Greece and Turkey. Training exercises were performed on possible future battlegrounds. On January 16, 1991, the 82nd Airborne Division was called to assist in Operation Desert Storm. The paratroopers of the division protected XVIII Airborne Corps as they moved into Iraq. The ground war took place in only 100 hours. The 82nd airborne captured thousands of Iraqi soldiers along with their weapons and ammunition. Although the 82nd Division has been there for many battles, they have also assisted in domestic issues. They were deployed to South Florida in 1992 for Hurricane Andrew and Louisiana in 2005 for Hurricane Katrina. There the division provided humanitarian assistance to the victims of the storms. Troopers provided medical attention, shelter and food to those affected by the hurricanes. It is considered that the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division are America’s Guard of Honor.