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11th AirborneVeterans of the famed 11th Airborne Division will celebrateits 50th anniversary Sept. 16 through 19 in Portland, Ore. Together with the First Cavalry Division and the 37th Infantry Division, the 11th Airborne Division liberated Manila In 1945.The division veterans will meet to mark the 50th anniversary of the division’s activation at Camp Mackall, N.C., in 1943. Commanded by Major General Joseph M. Swing, the 11th landed at Batangas, south of Manila, while the 511th Parachute Infantry and the 457th Parachute Field Artillery RCT team dropped by para chute on Tagatay Ridge nearLakeTaal on Feb. 3. 1945.The 11th Airborne Divisiongained its nickname The Angels from a daring raid behind the Japanese lines to liberate 2,147 internees at the Los Banos prison camp, by land, water and parachute. The defending Japanese force was wiped out and the internees who suffered more than three years of imprisonment declared that the paratropers looked like angels descending from heaven.After Luzon was secured, the 11th was the first American unit to land in Japan for the surrender and they occupied the country until March 1949, when it moved to Camp Campbell, Ky. Several units of the division were withdrawn from the division to move to Korea and served with outstanding distinction. The entire division rotated to Germany in early 1956 and served there until July 1. 1958. The move to Germany gave the 11th another first, be.ng the first U.S. Airborne Division to be assigned overseas since World War II. To the Angels also went the distinction of being the first airborne division to serve both in the Far East and Europe.The 1st Battalion. 188th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division was the first tactical troops to experience the actual blast of an atomic bomb in an atmospheric nuclear test series Buster Jangle in October and November 1951. It was the fist United States Army Division to bear Air Assault Tab above its shoulder Insignia. The 11th developed the present day Air Assault Techniques (1963-1965) used by present army units.Anyone desiring information about the reunion may contact the national secretary. Jim Hembree. 20 Binks Drive. Clarksville, Tenn. 37042.
Newspaper Details
Greenville Record Argus
Greenville, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Mar 19, 1993
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Laura K.
CT, USA 01 May 2018
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