From Fort Benning to the Pacific Northwest
Activated at Fort Benning
1st Sergeant Walter Morris handpicked 19 soldiers for a "colored test platoon." General Gaither personally championed the effort. These were college graduates and elite athletes, the best men available.
Wings Earned
Sixteen enlisted men earned their silver parachutist wings at the Airborne School, becoming America's first Black paratroopers. Six Black officers followed on March 4. History was made before breakfast.
Redesignated a Full Battalion
The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was officially formed at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. More than 400 men strong, they trained for combat, and waited for orders that would send them somewhere no one expected.
Operation Firefly, Smokejumpers
Japan's Fu-Go balloon bombs threatened Pacific Northwest forests. The 555th deployed to Oregon and California, completing 1,200 parachute jumps, fighting 36 fires, and becoming the Army's first smokejumpers. They served with distinction far from any headline.
Integration, Six Months Early
When the 555th was inactivated, its men transferred directly into the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, making it the first racially integrated division in U.S. Army history. President Truman's desegregation order came six months later.
