513^th Parachute Infantry Regiment

The 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia, on January 11, 1943, first under the 13th Airborne Division. It transferred to the 17th Airborne Division on March 10, 1944, trained at Camp Mackall and Camp Forrest, and deployed to England in August. The regiment landed in France on December 24, 1944 and crossed into Belgium the next day as the 17th Airborne Division entered the Ardennes crisis.

In January 1945 the 513th fought in the division's first combat operations northwest of Bastogne. The division attacked on January 3 and met strong German reaction around Dead Man's Ridge, Rechrival, Flamierge, and Hubermont. On January 4, Staff Sergeant Isadore S. Jachman of the 513th attacked two German tanks with a bazooka, damaging one and forcing both to retire before he was killed; he received the Medal of Honor. The regiment remained in the winter campaign as the division pushed toward the Ourthe River and later took part in the February operations along the Our River, where a 513th patrol crossed but had to withdraw.

On March 24, 1945, the 513th made its combat jump in Operation Varsity. German antiaircraft fire was intense, and all three battalions landed more than a mile from their assigned drop zones in the British 6th Airborne Division sector. The regiment assembled under small-arms fire and fought southward to its objectives, destroying two tanks, a self-propelled gun, and two batteries of 88-mm guns. One battalion moved to the Issel River while the regiment's parachute artillery fought its way into support.

After the airborne bridgehead was secured, the 513th joined the rapid exploitation east of the Rhine. On March 27-28 it reinforced the British 6th Guards Armoured Brigade in the attack toward Dorsten. In April it fought with the 507th in the Mulheim-Duisburg sector of the Ruhr before the division shifted to military government duties.