517^th Parachute Infantry Regiment

The 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, on March 15, 1943, and initially trained under Airborne Command and the 17th Airborne Division. Relieved from the 17th in March 1944, it deployed independently to the Mediterranean, arriving in Italy on May 28. The regiment entered combat under IV Corps along Highway 1 north of Rome on June 17, 1944, then served on the coastal flank with the 36th Infantry Division as Fifth Army advanced through western Italy.

The regiment's major amphibious-airborne campaign began with the assault on southern France on August 15, 1944. Fighting as an independent parachute infantry regiment, it helped secure the inland flank of the invasion and advanced through the Riviera campaign, taking St. Vallier on August 24. It then fought northward into the Rhineland before being drawn into the Ardennes crisis in December.

During the Battle of the Bulge, the 517th was repeatedly attached to larger formations as emergency infantry. Elements reinforced the 3rd Armored Division in the Soy-Hotton and Aisne valley fighting, where the 1st Battalion was committed against German forces pushing toward Manhay and Hotton. In the early hours of December 27, the 3d Battalion attacked Manhay after a heavy artillery preparation and cleared the village, helping end the 2d SS Panzer Division's immediate threat in that sector.

In January 1945 the regiment fought with XVIII Airborne Corps and the 106th Infantry Division toward Henumont, then with the 82nd Airborne Division in the advance to the Salm River. It later served near Bergstein and the Huertgen-Schmidt sector during operations connected with the Roer dams. The 517th was assigned to the 13th Airborne Division on March 1, 1945, after its main combat service. The 13th Airborne Division was not employed in Operation Varsity, and the regiment returned to the United States in August.