508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. "Diabolos". Constituted as the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) and activated at Camp Blanding, Florida, on 20 October 1942 with Colonel Roy E. Lindquist commanding, this unit completed basic training and moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia, for parachute training. Dubbing themselves "Red Devils, the new paratroopers adopted a pocket patch in the absence of official insignia and took "Diabolos" for a battle cry. The Red Devils unit training continued at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, and culminated in the advanced airborne training provided by the Tennessee Maneuvers of 1943. , , The 508th departed the United States for Europe in late December, arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 8 January 1944. Following two months in Ireland, the unit moved to the vicinity of Nottingham, England, and attached to the 82nd Airborne Division to carry out a demanding regime of refined unit training in anticipation of Operation Overlord. , , In late May, the Regiment relocated to the final staging area and learned it would jump into the southwest portion of the 82nd Airborne Division's sector. Ordered to secure bridges over the Douve River near Brienville and Beuzeville-la-Bastille, and to defend their area of operations, the 508th PIR flew out of England shortly before midnight on 5 June. The Red Devils jumped Into the Norman darkness early on the morning of 6 June 1944. Owing to fog, strong winds, and German defenses on their designated drop zone, the soldiers found themselves dispersed in a wide pattern between the Douve and Merderet Rivers. , , Once on the ground, the paratroopers fought the German defenders in the fields, villages, and roadways while attempting, with mixed results, to organize around their leaders. Undeterred by limited visibility, tactical contusion, and contrary enemy efforts, the 508th PIR defended the landings on Utah Beach from counterattacks. The Red Devils, five of whom received the Distinguished Service Cross, continued to fight into July, suffering more than 1,000 casualties. The Regiment was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its service on the Cotentin Peninsula, The French government also recognized the 508th PIR by awarding the Croix de Guerre with Palm for Ste. Mère-Eglise and an additional award for its subsequent battlefield accomplishments on the Cotentin Peninsula. , , The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment returned to the United States in November of 1946 and was soon thereafter inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. , Dedicated on 6 June 2009, the sixty-fifth anniversary of D-Day, in honor the men and women who have served, and do serve, in the Armed Forces of the United States, to protect us and defend our way of life, to those brave individuals who have sacrificed their lives in such service, we are forever grateful. Given by Ed and Barbara Scruggs.