Below is the M1942 Paratrooper jacket that Brig. Gen. James Maurice “Jumpin’ Jim” Gavin (USMA 1925) wore on the drop by the 82nd Airborne into Normandy, courtesy of the West Point Museum.
Of note, 80 years ago today, on 9 July 1943, then-Colonel Gavin was the first man out of his plane as the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Airborne) became the first Army regiment to execute a combat jump as part of Operation Husky. He also completed more jumps in combat than any other Army officer in WWII, parachuting into Sicily (twice), Normandy, and Holland.
On 9 July 1943, at an airfield outside Kairouan, Tunisia, standing left is Col. James Gavin, CO of 505th PIR, briefing his sky soldiers prior to their boarding C-47 transports.
Husky was the first brigade-sized U.S. airborne operation in history and the largest American combat jump to date.
During the Torch landings the previous fall, the 509 PIB made smaller jumps to seize airfields at Tafaraoui, Morocco (8 November) and Youks les Bains, Algeria (15 November), but they were battalion-sized jumps with no more than 556 paratroopers were involved.
Husky was much bigger, involving six times as many troops jumping from aircraft on Day 1 alone. On 9 July, some 226 C-47 transports were required to lift the regiment and its attached units (3 Bn, 504 PIR; 505 PIR; 456 PFA; 307th Para Eng) over Sicily, with 3,407 men stepping out the door.
The next day, Husky II would see another 2,304 paratroopers (of 1 & 2 Bn, 504 PIR; 376 PFA) drop in as reinforcements.
Of the 3,407 soldiers of 505th PIR who jumped into Sicily, 424 – 33 officers and 391 soldiers – were wounded or killed.