FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- The Soldiers of the 555th Parachute Infantry "Triple Nickles" were special. They passed rigorous training in 1944 to become members of the first all-black paratrooper unit in the Army, stationed out of Camp Mackall, N.C. It started out as a platoon, with 17 enlisted Soldiers and six officers, and later expanded to a company, then a battalion.
Active during World War II, the unit was never deployed into combat overseas. However, they served an equally important mission.
They were tasked with helping fight forest fires caused by incendiary bombs sent on the jet stream by the Japanese. These men used their parachute skills to participate in vital firefighting missions on the West Coast of the United States, which earned them the nickname, "Smoke Jumpers."
"They were attached to the United States Forestry Service out in Chico, Calif., to fight forest fires," said 555th Parachute Infantry Association member Sidney Brown, a retired command sergeant major. "They did that from the first part of 1945 until the end of the war."
For Jordan J. Corbett, a 555th Soldier, paratrooper training was a whole new experience.
"The first day I ever jumped that was my first time I'd been up in a plane, and I had to jump out," he remembered. "… That was quite exciting. Of course the first jump for me was not the best. I think I was so excited I forgot the position I was supposed to be in. That chute opened and I was yanked so hard, I thought I saw confetti all around me. That's the honest truth. My position was so bad, but the next four were perfect."
All-in-all, the 555th is "an outfit I'll never forget," Corbett said during a telephone interview from his Bartow, Fla., home.
"They were tough, they seemed to be well-educated, and they wanted to make sure that we were well-informed, well-trained and that we followed the regulations of the Army," he said, of the unit's officers.
Thomas McFadden, 92, joined the 555th Parachute Infantry in summer 1944. He remembers the standards were exceedingly high for those hoping to join the unit, but the 555th Parachute Infantry Soldiers were up for the challenge.
"My own impression is that initially, it was set up so that it was intentional for those of that group to eventually fail," McFadden said. "One of the questions … was whether or not they had the intelligence to be able to be successful as a paratrooper.
"It was my opinion that actually the Army at that time was not really interested initially in a successful, black unit."
In December 1947, the battalion was deactivated and then reactivated as the 3rd Battalion, 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
This marked the first time for an all-black unit to officially join a U.S. Army combat division.
From this regiment, Soldiers went on to the 503rd Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion and the 80th Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion, and then spread out across the Army, including the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.
It is believed that the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, and the subsequent units birthed from it, helped to promote integration within the U.S. Armed Forces. Because of this unique place in history, members of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion formed the 555th Parachute Infantry Association to preserve the unit's legacy.
"As you know, the news is full of still apparent uneven distribution of rights and so forth and so on, so that the victory is not won yet," McFadden said. "We have to be vigilant, and along with all of our other professions, we have to kind of do some things [that are] going to contribute to the greater good of all persons, regardless of what their pigmentation is and so forth. I think many of us are trying to do that."
This legacy remains strong at Fort Campbell, where the 3rd Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, integrated the installation in the early 1950s. As a nod the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion's role in the Army's integration, the 555th Association will be dedicating a monument at Fort Campbell, Sept. 4, in honor of the first black paratroopers. The monument cost $10,000, and it was donated to Fort Campbell by the 555th Association.
"The legacy -- these … paratroopers that paved the way for the younger guys and gals that came along -- it is significant," said Gregory Griffin, a 555th Association member with 31 years of Army service. "It is also significant that … Fort Campbell is a part of that legacy."
As Griffin and fellow members of the 555th Association see it, the on-post monument that memorializes the original Soldiers of the Triple Nickles test platoon will serve as a way to preserve both the unit's history and the other black Soldiers that followed in their footsteps.
"They now have a point of reference to come to on this installation and visit and bring their children and their grandchildren," Griffin said.
The monument dedication ceremony was held at Aug. 28 in front of Fort Campbell's Don F. Pratt Museum. Attendees heard remarks from Garrison Commander Col. David "Buck" Dellinger, as well as 555th Association National President Joe Murchison.
This monument is not the first. The 555th Association has worked diligently to dedicate similar monuments on installations across the country, including Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Benning, Ga., among others. The purpose of the monument is to maintain the legacy of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion Soldiers, and the change they fostered throughout the Army.
"What this monument represents are those black Soldiers, black paratroopers, who were in the United States Army from 1943 to [19]44 -- when the first black guy went to jump school -- until 1952, when the Army integrated," Brown said.
Brown came to what was then Camp Campbell in September 1950. He first served with Company I, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Abn. Div., then joined Company K, 511th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Abn. Div. He experienced the integration of troops at Fort Campbell in September 1952.
"That's just the way it was," Brown said.
"That time I don't think can be forgotten, because these guys went through a very tough time in the Army. I caught a little bit of that here in 1950 when I came here. So I can imagine what they went through in 1944 and [19]45 during World War II."
In the days before integration, Fort Campbell's black Soldiers had their own PX and club, and were only allowed to stay from 11th Street and south. The white Soldiers stayed on 12th Street and north, Brown recalled.
"A lot of people don't want to talk about things like this, because it brings back I guess some hurts for some people, but that's the truth," Brown explained. "We are trying to maintain this legacy. A lot of people don't want to do that anymore. But the Army was segregated in those days. We had two Armies. We had the black Army and the white Army -- no doubt about it.
"That's why guys like me, who came in a little bit later on, we all clung to the Triple Nickle …"
The monument dedication is one portion of the 555th Association's 35th annual reunion, which is being held in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 28 through Sept. 7. A luncheon at Cole Park Commons is scheduled after the monument dedication, and members can participate in a golf tournament and formal ball Sept. 6. For more information about the reunion, call (813) 238-2305.
Related Links:
101st Airborne Division on Twitter
Fort Campbell Courier on Twitter
101st Airborne Division on Facebook
Social Sharing