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Below are a few interesting facts that came to our attention while updating the 8,000 + names on the
505th Regimental Combat Team roster;
1) On August 15, 1942 General Ridgway held a full dress review of the 82nd Airborne Division. There were 16,000 men present.
It was said, one could hear a pin drop when General Ridgway told them their division would soon become two divisions (82nd and the 101st)
and that glider regiments would be formed in the near future. The next day 4,500 men were AWOL.
(Page 40, "Ridgway's Paratroopers" author Clay Blair)
2) On December 14,1942 the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division transferred 62 Paratroopers
in grade, as cadre, for the newly formed 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
(The 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Toccoa, Georgia on November 15,1942)
3) The great majority of the 82nd Airborne Division's inductees were drafted during the month of March, 1942.
4) The first large scale deployment of troops overseas in WW-II was to the "Territory of Hawaii" after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. The convoy arrived off the Hawaiian Islands on March 10th
1942. By the end of 1943 the danger to the Hawaiian Islands from Japan was over, many of the troops
stationed there in March 1942, were slowly returned to the States or transferred to other units.
Jim Coyle of E Company was in that March 10th convoy as well as the webmasters uncle, Harry Schweikert.
6) After the war ended, over 90% of the Division's re-enlistments in late 1945 and early 1946 were for the Territory of Hawaii.
7) Compensation records for veterans of the states of Iowa and Pennsylvania are available on Ancestry.com.
Information on the forms gives the veterans ASN (Army Serial Number) the highest rank held, the start and
finish dates of service, dates of overseas service and on the Iowa form, it lists units the veteran served in
during the war.
8) The state of New Mexico makes WW-II Army discharge documents available on Ancestry.com for all veterans
of WW-II that lived in the state during the war.
9) On November 14,1943 the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment transferred in grade, approximately 246 paratroopers to
the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. These replacements helped bring the 504th up to strength after tough fighting in
the rugged mountains of Italy. The next stop for the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was the beachhead of Anzio.
When the 505th PIR was sailing from Naples to Ireland, the 504th PIR was sailing for Anzio, Italy on loan to
General Mark Clarke's Fifth Army.(Some of the 505 PIR paratroopers on loan to the 504th returned to the 505th in April of 1944.)
10) On March 1st 1945, 79 paratroopers from Service company were transferred into the 82nd Parachute Maintenance Company.
11) As the sun came up on D-Day June 6,1944, of the 6 regiments that landed earlier that night in Normandy, France, only
one regiment was ready to fight as a cohesive unit. It was the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
(Page 236 "Ridgway's Paratroopers" author Clay Blair)
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