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Divisions · from 1917

82nd Airborne Division

Airborne division of the United States Army.

History

The 82nd Airborne Division ("All American") is a United States Army airborne infantry division that specializes in parachute assault, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Currently, the division is commanded by Major General Brandon Tegtmeier.

It was first activated at Camp Gordon, in Georgia in August 1917. The 82nd Infantry Division was the second United States Army infantry-combat division of eight to deploy and return in England, and fight in France.

The 82nd Infantry Division served with distinction on the Western Front in the final months of World War I. Since its initial members came from all 48 states, the division acquired the nickname All-American, which is the basis for its "AA" (pictured), on the shoulder patch. The Division took part in the Battle of Lorraine 1918, and the campaigns of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne 1918. It was demobilized in May 1919, at Camp Mills, New York. During the summer of 1921, it was reconstituted, placed into the Organized Reserves, as Headquarters, 82nd Division, and was later transferred to the Federal Building at Columbia, South Carolina.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on 7 December 1941, the 82nd Airborne Division saw combat with the command of United States Army General Omar Bradley. In August 1942, Bradley reconstituted the 82nd as the first airborne division of the US Army, and it fought in numerous campaigns of the war.

Text from Wikipedia: 82nd Airborne Division, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

World War IWorld War IIWar in Afghanistan (2001–2021)Iraq WarCold WarBattle of Saint-MihielMeuse-Argonne OffensiveUnited States occupation of the Dominican Republic

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

  1. 1917
    The 82nd Division was constituted during World War I on 5 August 1917 as an infantry division in the National Army.
  2. 1942
    The 82nd Division was redesignated on 13 February 1942 as Division Headquarters, 82nd Division, and ordered into active service on 25 March 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, under the command of Major General Omar N. Bradley.
  3. 1944
    On 24 December 1944, the 82nd Airborne Division with an official strength of 8,520 men was facing off against a vastly superior combined force of 43,000 men and over 1,200 armored fighting and artillery vehicles and pieces.
  4. 1944
    551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (attached 26 December 1944 – 13 January 1945; 21–27 January 1945)
  5. 1958
    1st ABG, 504th Infantry (reassigned to the 8th Infantry Division on 11 December 1958)
  6. 1973
    During the Wounded Knee uprising in 1973, the 82nd was brought to the Pine Ridge reservation under the direction of plain-clothed Colonel Volney Warner in the field and, from the Pentagon, General Alexander Haig.
  7. 1994
    Former vice president Al Gore later travelled to Fort Bragg to personally thank the paratroopers of the 82nd for their actions, noting in a speech on 19 September 1994, that the 82nd's reputation was enough to change Cédras' mind:
  8. 2014
    On 19 December 2014, Stars & Stripes, a daily military newspaper, announced 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne's 3rd Brigade Combat Team would deploy to Iraq to train, advise, and assist Iraq's Security Forces.
  9. 2021
    When Ian Fishback died in 2021, Senator Dick Durbin called Ian Fishback a military hero, saying:

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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