The Eighty Second Airborne Division

The Eighty Second Airborne Division. “American Division”. Formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia, on 25 August 1917, the 82nd Infantry Division comprised soldiers from all 48 states; hence the nickname and double-A shoulder patch. After fighting with distinction in three World War I campaigns, the division demobilized. Ordered into active military service at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, on 25 March 1942 with Major General Omar N. Bradley commanding, the division was redesignated the 82nd Airborne Division on 15 August, becoming the U.S. Army's first airborne division. The All American Division, now under the command of Major General Matthew B. Ridgway, sailed for North Africa in April 1943. Its first airborne combat took the form of parachute assaults into Sicily and Salerno, Italy, in late summer. At year's end, the division detached the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) to fight at Anzio and repaired to the United Kingdom to train and reorganize in preparation for D-Day. , , In April 1944, the 504th PIR, exhausted and diminished in number by the Italian fighting, rejoined the division in no condition to participate in the imminent battle in France. Thus, the 507th and 508th PIRs were attached to the All American Division in anticipation of a three-echeloned assault on Normandy led by two remarkable officers: Maj. Gen. Ridgway and Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin, who commanded the 505th PIR before becoming assistant division commander. Early on 6 June 1944, Force A (some 6,400 paratroopers assigned to the attached regiments and the division's organic 505th PIR) jumped into the darkness over the Cotentin Peninsula. The mission was to land astride the Merderet River, secure the area of operations and take out all crossings over the Douve River. Force B, 3800 glidermen of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR), was to have come in next to reinforce, and Force C, 1700 strong, was scheduled to arrive by sea that afternoon. , , Preceded by pathfinder teams to mark the drop zones, scores of C-47 Dakotas transporting the main force flew over the Channel without incident until encountering a dense fog bank from the coastline inland. Using standard evasive measures to avoid other aircraft, many of the C-47s, some flying too high and others too low, got lost. Anti-Aircraft fire destroyed others. Between the weather and ground fire, Force A took nearly 300 casualties in the drop. Still, the 505th PIR came down more or less in the intended drop zone, but the 507th and 508th landed badly dispersed over a wide area, much of it deliberately flooded by the German defenders. , , Notwithstanding such setbacks, the 82nd Airborne Division accomplished all its primary objectives for D-Day. Before dawn, the Division liberated the first French village (Sainte-Mère-Eglise), and by the time darkness settled, a third of the division had formed into a functioning force. Unnumbered displays of extraordinary initiative, leadership, and courage enabled those achievements. By day's end on D+1, the division had reassembled, secured the operational area despite fierce resistance, integrated the reinforcing 325th GIR, made contact with the 4th Infantry Division, and pressed attacks to the north and along the southern flank to link with the 101st Airborne Division. , Given by the Garland and Agnes Taylor Gray Foundation and by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Tullidge Sr: in memory of Sergeant George Bowler Tullidge III, 507th PIR, and in tribute to the 82nd Airborne Division.