Following the establishment of the first Parachute Test Platoon in the summer of 1940, the US Army soon embarked on a full review and reorganization of it parachute structures.  Their initial concept was to maintain small units of specialised troops that would be allocated specific tasks, but as the airborne concepts to a grasp within the military hierarchy, the defined structures changed.  Many of these changes reflected the successful German parachute and glider missions in Europe, where the Nazi “Blitzkrieg” successes feature airborne assaults.  These were seen as particularly successful during their invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium in 1940.

On 16 September 1940, the US Army issued and order to constitute the 1st Parachute Battalion, this was later amended on 26 September 1940 to the 501st Parachute Battalion.  The reason for the change was due to the allocation Battalion registration numbers whereby number 1 through 499 were allocated to the Marines and 500 onwards being allocated to the Army. On 1st October 1940, the 501st Parachute Battalion was officially activated at Fort Benning, Georgia under the command of Major William Miley. Therefore, the famous test platoon, the prime ancestor of all American Parachute Units, provided the nucleus of the 501st Parachute Battalion, which in turn provided part of the cadre, the unit number, the genealogical lineage and the heraldic background of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Following the completion of their Jump Training, the 501st Parachute Battalion was ordered to Panama as part of a Task Force that would defend the Canal and surrounding territories, arriving in September 1941 where it remained until March 1942, when it’s A and B companies with Maj. Miley were transferred to the 503rd Regimental Combat Team. C company was then brought back to the USA where, with the addition of replacements and newly qualified recruits, on 15th November 1942 it was re-activated as the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at Toccoa, Georgia under the command of Colonel Howard Johnson where they would continue training before moving to Fort Benning in March 1943 to complete final Jump Training for those new recruits who had not been through jump school.

​HISTORY OF 501 PARACHUTE BATTALION

HISTORY OF 501 PARACHUTE BATTALION

 Following the completion of their jump training, the 501st PIR was then transferred to Camp MacKall, North Carolina and assigned to the Airborne Command of Colonel William L where it remained to undertake further training until January 1944, when the regiment deployed to England, by way of Camp Myles Standish, MA. Once in England the 501st PIR became permanently attached to the 101st Airborne Division and was a vital part of that famous unit for the duration of World War II. In England, training was as hard and realistic as ever, and became increasingly oriented toward an airborne assault into German held Europe. Though nobody knew it initially, the regiment was actually training for Operation Overlord, the super-secret allied plan for the combined air, naval, amphibious, and airborne operations to breach  Hitler's "Atlantic Wall". As D-Day drew closer, a few key commanders and staff were briefed on the part the 501st would play in Operation Overlord.

As well as Operation Overlord and subsequent action in Normandy, where it lost some 898 men killed, wounded or missing, the 501st saw action in the European Theater as part of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, where they parachuted near Veghel, at the village of Eerde. It was here on what became know as the “Island” that Colonel Johnson was killed in action and the 501st also suffered 661 other casualties. The command of the regiment then passed to Lieutenant Colonel Ewell.

 Following 72 days of combat in the Netherlands, the 501st was returned to Mourmelon, France for refitting, from where it was despatched, with the rest of the 101st  Division, to Bastogne where it operated with distinction during the “Battle of the Bulge”. Once again, the 501st paid a dear price of 580 killed, wounded or captured. One casualty was Colonel Ewell, who was badly wounded and relinquished command to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Ballard, who had commanded 2nd Battalion from the beginning. Lt Col. Ballard continued in command of the 501st until the end of World War II.Operations after Bastogne would have been anti-climactic under almost any circumstances, and the light skirmishing in Alsace, and the drive into Germany's last redoubt, in Bavaria, truly seemed like a cakewalk. The living in Germany after V-day was good indeed, but rudely interrupted by orders to move back to billets in Joigny and Auxerre, France. Once in France the regiment tried to get enthused about training for an invasion of Japan, but their hearts were not in it and everyone felt that the job had been done. Japan would have to be finished off by someone else, as on 20th August 1945, the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment was disbanded, ahead of the inactivation of the 101st Airborne Division in November 1945.