[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8522]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE 555TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY BATTALION

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes today 
and share with my colleagues an extraordinary piece of our country's 
World War II and civil rights history: the story of the 555th Parachute 
Infantry Battalion--or the Triple Nickles, as they would come to be 
called.
  The 555th was officially activated in December 1943 at Fort Benning, 
GA, and began as a company of Black officers and enlisted men. 
Seventeen soldiers graduated Army jump school the following February, 
earning a coveted Parachutist Badge--their ``wings.'' The Army 
transferred the unit after several months to Camp Mackall, NC, and, in 
November 1944, redesignated it Company A of the newly activated 555th 
Parachute Infantry Battalion.
  Although the 555th did not serve overseas during World War II, it 
performed an important role in defending the American homeland. In 1944 
and 1945, the Japanese launched roughly 9,000 ``balloon bombs,'' 
explosives attached to paper balloons that rode the jetstream current 
across the Pacific Ocean and over the contiguous United States.
  One of these balloon bombs exploded in Oregon, killing a pregnant 
woman and five children in what historians regard as the only American 
World War II combat causalities to occur in the contiguous United 
States.
  The members of the 555th boarded a train westward to Oregon on a 
secret mission to help defend Americans living in the Pacific Northwest 
and the natural timber resources deemed vital to the war effort.
  The incident in Oregon was one of more than 275 documented balloon 
bomb related incidents as far east as Detroit, MI, south into Texas, 
and north into Canada and Alaska.
  Japanese balloon bombs, of course, had the potential not only to 
wound or kill but also to set forests ablaze in the western United 
States. Putting those fires out and dealing with their aftermath could 
divert the Nation's focus on the war effort and dampen American morale.
  The Triple Nickles arrived in Oregon in 1945 and were sent out to 
Pendleton Air Field, then still an active military base. They were 
assigned to work with the U.S. Forest Service and received specialized 
training as smokejumpers and on the handling of unexploded balloon 
bombs.
  As part of Operation Firefly, the 555th made some 1,200 jumps and 
fought more than 35 fires in Oregon, Washington, and other western 
States between July and October 1945.
  Smokejumping is no easy feat; it is dirty, sweaty, and dangerous 
work, but because of the 555th's dedication and professionalism, the 
unit only ever sustained one fatality: Malvin Brown tragically fell to 
his death in the Umpqua National Forest about 45 miles northwest of 
Crater Lake. His death is regarded as the first smokejumper death in 
U.S. history.
  Make no mistake about it, Malvin Brown and the other soldiers of the 
555th Parachute Infantry Battalion are heroes. They were the first 
Black paratroopers ever to serve in the U.S. Military, which they did 
with honor and distinction. They are also the only military unit in 
history to work as smokejumpers.
  The soldiers of the 555th faced painful discrimination and blatant 
racism on a daily basis. They were barred from the store on base while 
at Fort Benning, GA, even though German and Italian prisoners were 
allow to enter. Even after the Triple Nickles arrived in Oregon, they 
found most restaurants and bars would not serve them.
  The Army sent the 555th to Fort Bragg, NC, following the Japanese 
surrender and, in December 1947, integrated the unit into the famed 
82nd Airborne Division--making the 82nd the Army's first racially 
integrated division.
  On June 3, 2017, the State of Oregon will commemorate the 555th 
Parachute Infantry Battalion's remarkable history and important 
contributions to the country with the installation of an Oregon State 
historic marker at the Smokejumper Museum in Cave Junction.
  It is my true honor to share their story today with my colleagues and 
to express my profound gratitude to all the Triple Nickles for their 
service.

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