Thanks... Martin Pratt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I think it was Korea.
Astromancer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Did you know: Clark Terry, celebrated jazz trumpeter had to wait until the early 80's to receive his diploma from the Armed Forces School Of Music? I don't have all of the details, but I do know he was a Navy musician...What I don't know is if he has served during WWII or the Korean Conflict... sancochojo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Another Unit worth noting, "The Triple Nickel" When the all-black 555th Parachute Infantry Company, remembered by many as the "Triple Nickel," arrived at Fort Benning, Ga., for airborne training in December 1943, it marked a significant milestone for black Americans in the combat arms. Retired Col. Porcher L. Taylor recently asked a couple of soldiers if they'd ever heard of a unit called the "Triple Nickel." "Yeah, that's the MP company over here," the soldiers said, referring to the recently inactivated 555th MP Co. at Fort Lee, Va. Taylor, 69, couldn't help but chuckle at the innocent case of mistaken military identity. "They didn't know. So, I took time to tell them something about it, and they were real interested," he said. For Taylor and the almost 1,000 members of the 555th Parachute Infantry Association, the nickname bears witness to a legacy of the first black airborne unit, the 555th Parachute Inf. Bn. "It's a part of history that really needs to be told," said Taylor, a Petersburg, Va., native and member of the Tri-Cities Chapter, one of 26 555th PIA chapters. The "Triple Nickel" began its trek into airborne history Dec. 19, 1943, as the 555th PI Co. Almost a year later, the unit became a battalion and included riggers, jumpmasters, pathfinders and communications soldiers. The 555th PIB didn't deploy overseas during World War II. It was mobilized to fight a threat closer to home as "smokejumpers," airborne firefighters. Under this mission, soldiers made more than 1,000 jumps, fighting forest fires in Oregon and California, some of which were started by Japanese incendiary balloons. In December 1947 the 555th was redesignated as the 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 82nd Abn. Division. Members of the original "Triple Nickel" went into combat during the Korean War, joining such other airborne units as the 2nd Ranger Co. and the 187th Abn. Combat Team. The association keeps busy today handing out annual scholarships to college students, donations to local Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and to black history museums, said retired Lt. Col. John T. Boyd Jr., a past president of the Tri- Cities Chapter. "Airborne has always been an elite unit of the Army," said Boyd, a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran from Richmond. "During World War II, the African-American soldier wasn't allowed to serve in an elite unit. So, a gentleman began to train 16 soldiers using the same techniques he observed from the training of white troops. As more attention is focused on the exploits of black soldiers in World War II, especially through the awarding of seven Medals of Honor last year, Boyd and others in the 555th PIA feel the time is right for the public to embrace their legacy, too. As a teenager, retired Lt. Col. John Edward McNeil Sr. saw Fort Bragg's first group of black airborne soldiers when they attended his church in Fayetteville, N.C. "They had on those highly shined boots and those crisp, starched olive drab uniforms and those glider patches on their caps. I made up my mind, right after high school, that I wanted to be one of those guys," said McNeil, 64, who served eight years as an enlisted paratrooper before becoming an officer, first in the Signal Corps and later in military intelligence. 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