101st Airborne Division

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) —nicknamed the Screaming Eagles— is an airborne division of the United States Army mainly trained for air assault operations. The division is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and is currently serving in the Iraq War.

History

The division was activated on August 15, 1942. On August 19, 1942 its first commander, Major General William C. Lee, promised his new recruits that the 101st had a "rendezvous with destiny."

Related Topics:
August 15 - 1942 - August 19 - William C. Lee

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General Order Number Six, which gave birth to the division, reads:

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: The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like the early American pioneers whose invincible courage was the foundation stone of this nation, we have broken with the past and its traditions in order to establish our claim to the future.

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: Due to the nature of our armament, and the tactics in which we shall perfect ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching military importance and we shall habitually go into action when the need is immediate and extreme.

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: Let me call your attention to the fact that our badge is the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies.

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: The history we shall make, the record of high achievement we hope to write in the annals of the American Army and the American people, depends wholly and completely on the men of this division. Each individual, each officer and each enlisted man, must therefore regard himself as a necessary part of a complex and powerful instrument for the overcoming of the enemies of the nation. Each, in his own job, must realize that he is not only a means, but an indispensable means for obtaining the goal of victory. It is, therefore, not too much to say that the future itself, in whose molding we expect to have our share, is in the hands of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.

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During World War II, the Pathfinders of the 101st Airborne Division led the way on D-Day in the night drop prior to the invasion. They left from RAF North Witham having trained there with those of 82nd Airborne Division.

Related Topics:
World War II - Pathfinders - D-Day - RAF North Witham - 82nd Airborne Division

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On August 2 1944 the division became part of the First Allied Airborne Army. As part of this formation it took part in Operation Market Garden.

Related Topics:
August 2 - 1944 - First Allied Airborne Army - Operation Market Garden

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During the Battle of the Bulge the 101st, as one of the few forces available to contain the German advance was rushed forward to defend the vital road junction of Bastogne. Famously, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe answered the German demand for surrender with the reply "To the German Commander: Nuts! -The American Commander" and the division fought on until the siege was lifted and the German advance halted.

Related Topics:
Battle of the Bulge - Bastogne - Anthony McAuliffe

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For their efforts during World War II, the 101st Airborne Division was awarded four campaign streamers and two Presidential Unit Citations.

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The exploits of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (part of the 101st) during these times have been turned into a HBO television mini-series called Band of Brothers by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

Related Topics:
Easy Company - 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - HBO - Television - Band of Brothers - Steven Spielberg - Tom Hanks

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The 101st Airborne Division was reactivated as a training unit at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, in 1948 and again in 1950. It was reactivated again in 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and in March 1956, the 101st was transferred, less personnel and equipment, to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to be reorganized as a combat division under the command of General Maxwell D. Taylor.

Related Topics:
Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky - 1948 - 1950 - 1954 - Fort Jackson - South Carolina - 1956 - Fort Campbell, Kentucky - Maxwell D. Taylor

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From September through November of 1957 elements of the division were deployed to Little Rock, Arkansas, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enforce Federal court orders during the Little Rock Crisis.

Related Topics:
1957 - Little Rock, Arkansas - Dwight D. Eisenhower - Little Rock Crisis

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In the mid-1960s, the 1st Brigade and support troops were deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, followed by the rest of the division in late 1967. In almost seven years of combat in Vietnam, elements of the 101st participated in 15 campaigns.

Related Topics:
1960s - Republic of Vietnam - 1967

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In 1968, the 101st took on the structure and equipment of an airmobile division. Today, the 101st stands as the Army's and world's only air assault division with unequaled strategic and tactical mobility. In 1974, the training of the 101st was recognized with the creation of the Air Assault Badge, now a service wide decoration of the United States Army.

Related Topics:
1968 - 1974 - Air Assault Badge

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Tragedy struck the division on December 12, 1985. A civilian aircraft, Arrow Air Flight 1285, chartered to transport some of the division from the Sinai to Kentucky, crashed near Gander, Newfoundland. There were no survivors. 241 US servicemen died, most were from the 3d Battalion, 502d Infantry.

Related Topics:
December 12 - 1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 - Sinai - Gander, Newfoundland

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In January 1991, the 101st once again had its "Rendezvous with Destiny" in Iraq during the combat air assault into enemy territory. The 101st sustained no soldiers killed in action during the 100-hour war and captured thousands of enemy prisoners of war.

Related Topics:
1991 - Iraq

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The division has supported humanitarian relief efforts in Rwanda and Somalia, then later supplied peacekeepers to Haiti and Bosnia.

Related Topics:
Rwanda - Somalia - Haiti - Bosnia

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It also deployed again to Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The division was in V Corps, providing support to the 3rd Infantry Division by clearing Iraqi strongpoints which that division has bypassed. The Division then went on to a tour of duty as part of the occupation forces of Iraq, using the city of Mosul as their primary base of operations, before being withdrawn in early 2004 for rest and refit. As part of the Army's modular transformation, the existing infantry brigades, artillery brigade, and avaition briagdes were transformed, with the addition of the brand-new 4th Brigade Combat Team and it's subordinate units, to form a 6-7 major units division, one of the largest currently in the U.S. Army, in preparation to redeploy in fall 2005 to Iraq.

Related Topics:
2003 - Operation Iraqi Freedom - V Corps - 3rd Infantry Division - Mosul - 2004

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