In 2017, the All American Division is celebrating 100 YEARS of service
to our nation! Join us as we retell the history of the Division in the
All American Legacy Podcast.
Podcast series explores 100-year history of 82nd Airborne Division
By C. Todd Lopez | January 26, 2017
WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- With just 18 hours of notice, the 82nd
Airborne Division can deploy and conduct a forcible-entry operation in
support of U.S. interests. But the division wasn't always that ready,
and they weren't always airborne.
With 2017 marking the division's 100th anniversary, the 82nd is now
launching a series of initiatives to commemorate its history, share the
story of how it became the unit it is today, and celebrate all that the
paratroopers have done for the United States and the world.
"This is our centennial, our 100th anniversary, and the entire calendar
year of 2017 is a celebration of our legacy," said Lt. Col. Joe Buccino,
with the 82nd Airborne Public Affairs office.
Among those initiatives is a new podcast series, "All American Legacy
Podcast." The 82nd plans to produce one or more podcast episodes each
week, over the course of the year.
The first of those episodes, "All American Legacy Podcast: Episode 1 -
Birth" details how the division was formed back in 1917. The episode
went live on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play and the 82nd's Facebook page,
Jan. 17.
FROM INFANTRY TO AIRBORNE
As the first podcast explains, the 82nd started off in August 1917, at
Camp Gordon, Georgia, to contribute to the fighting in World War I. At
the time, there was no airborne capability in the U.S. Army. The 82nd
was an infantry division. It would go on to fight in some of the
critical battles of the First World War.
"St. Mihiel comes to mind, as does Meuse-Argonne," Buccino said. "Alvin
York was our biggest moment in that war: Alvin York in the Argonne
Forrest. A lot of people, I don't think, associate Alvin York with the
82nd, but he was our second Medal of Honor recipient."
In 1919, after the First World War, the 82nd was deactivated. In 1921,
it stood up again, going on to operate for 20 years in the Army Reserve
as a drilling Reserve unit. In March 1942, a little more than three
months after the attacks at Pearl Harbor, the 82nd was recalled to
active duty.
At the time, Buccino explained, the Allies were looking to "introduce this new airborne concept: vertical envelopment."
"Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, the commanding general at the time, had
trained the division above the platoon level," Buccino said. "He trained
so efficiently that the 82nd was selected to become an airborne
division."
So it was, in August 1942, that the 82nd Infantry Division became the
82nd Airborne Division, just 25 years after it first stood up at Camp
Gordon.
"It was chaotic because the division had been trained for standard
infantry operations in World War II," Buccino said. "And the division
had to be reorganized. Half the division was sent off to the 101st."
JUMPING INTO WWII
Around that time, the airborne concept was still new, Buccino said. The
Germans had been doing it, he said, and now the allies wanted to do it,
too. But it remained to be seen whether the concept would work in large
numbers.
"When Gen. Ridgway announced that … we're going to an airborne status
for the European theater," Buccino said, "[Soldiers] had the option to
stay in the division, or leave, or go somewhere else. But the
overwhelming majority decided to stay in the 82nd."
In 1942, commercial aviation in the United States was still in its
infancy. Most Soldiers in the 82nd Airborne had likely never even been
on an airplane. And now, the Army was asking them to jump out of one.
Many of them were terrified, Buccino said.
"We know now when we do these airborne operations that the equipment
will work, and that we will arrive safely on the ground," he explained.
"But then, people didn't really have that reassurance."
When the first paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division embarked on
the first operational jump mission in Italy, many of them were just
novices at parachuting by today's standards, Buccino said.
"They all had done this less than 10 times in training -- as aircraft to
train on this were not available in the U.S. back then," he said.
"Today, we have paratroopers here who have jumped 70 or 80 times. They
are very familiar and comfortable with it."
Today, he said, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 82nd Airborne Division Soldiers conduct 10,000 training jumps a month.
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