503rd Infantry Regiment (United States)


The 503rd Infantry Regiment, formerly the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, is an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment served as an independent regiment in the Pacific War during World War II; at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; in Okinawa, Japan; and in Germany. Regimental elements have been assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, the 11th Airborne Division, the 24th Infantry Division, the 25th Infantry Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Regimental elements have participated in campaigns in the Vietnam War, Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The regiment claims 15 Medal of Honor recipients: two from World War II, ten from Vietnam, and three from Afghanistan. A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System. The regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions are active, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based at Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. The 3rd and 4th Battalions as well as Companies E, F, G, H, and I have been inactived.

Current status of regimental elements

  • 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Active, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy
  • 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Active, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy
  • 3rd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1973
  • 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1973
  • Company E, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1957
  • Company F, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1957
  • Company G, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1957
  • Company H, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1957
  • Company I, 503rd Infantry Regiment : Inactive since 1957

    History

World War II

On 14 February 1942, just two months after the American entry into World War II, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment was formed, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William M. "Bud" Miley. The regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions were formed at Fort Benning, Georgia, from the 503rd and 504th Parachute Battalions, respectively. In May 1942, the 503rd's 2nd Battalion was detached and sailed to Scotland, where it trained and would later take part in the Allied invasion of German-occupied North Africa in November 1942. This unit was later redesignated the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry. It would ultimately be the only battalion in its regiment, that existed in name only with no active regimental headquarters, and would later be redesignated the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion in 1944.
The 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry was activated on 8 June 1942 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, formed by elements of the 502nd Parachute Infantry; the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd, became Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 503rd; Company A became Company G; Company B became Company H, and Company C became Company I. The regiment departed the United States in mid-October 1942 for Australia augmented by Company A, 504th Parachute Infantry, which had personally been selected by Major General Matthew Ridgway, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, as his best rifle company. Docking in the Panama Canal Zone on 1 November, the 503rd picked up the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion, which had been undergoing jungle training. The 501st, as well as Company A, 504th, was redesignated as the 503rd's 2nd Battalion: Company A, 501st became Company E, 503rd; Company B, 501st became Company F, 503rd; and Company A, 504th became Company D, 503rd. In late 1942 and early 1943, there was confusion about unit designations in the 503rd, as some officers interpreted the 503rd was operating with two 2nd Battalions, one in Australia and one in Great Britain/North Africa. Unlike many other airborne units, which were deployed in the European Theater of Operations, the 503rd was the first airborne regiment to fight in the Pacific, and as an independent unit.
On 2 November 1942, the former 501st Parachute Battalion was inactivated on paper so that a new regiment with a lineal connection to its parent parachute battalion could be activated at Fort Benning.
The 503rd's first operation was an unopposed landing at Nadzab, in the Markham Valley, New Guinea, on 5 September 1943. Although the landings were unopposed, the troops were later attacked by enemy bombers from the air. The 503rd's deployment helped force the Japanese evacuation of a major military outpost at Lae. During their overland withdrawal, the third battalion of the 503rd had a major skirmish with the Japanese rear guard.
On 3–4 July 1944, 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 503rd were delivered by parachute to Kamiri Airfield on the island of Noemfoor off the coast of Dutch New Guinea, sustaining significant casualties from the jump. To reduce further casualties, the 2nd Battalion was delivered amphibiously. At the Battle of Noemfoor, the 503rd played a major role in the elimination of the Japanese garrison on that island. As a result of his heroic actions during the battle, paratrooper Sergeant Ray E. Eubanks was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Airfields constructed on Noemfoor after its capture enabled the advance of Allied troops from New Guinea to the Philippines.
File:Awm 128387 nadzab.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Dwarfed by and silhouetted against clouds of smoke, C-47s from the USAAF drop a battalion of the 503rd at Nadzab, New Guinea. A battalion dropped moments earlier is landing in the foreground.
Following a non-combat landing on the island of Leyte in the Philippines, the 503rd Regimental Combat Team made a major amphibious landing on Mindoro Island in the central Philippines on 15 December 1944. Originally, it was intended for the 503rd to jump on Mindoro, but due to inadequate airstrip facilities on Leyte, an airborne landing was not possible. During the Battle of Mindoro, the 503rd was subjected to intense air and naval actions, at one point being shelled for 25 minutes by a Japanese naval task force. One company of the 503rd RCT engaged in a fierce battle against a company-size Japanese force defending an enemy air raid warning station on the north end of the island. The success of the Mindoro operation enabled the United States Army Air Forces to construct and operate air strips and forward air bases to support later landings in the Philippines at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. During combat in the Philippines, Lieutenant Colonel Joe S. Lawrie, former regimental S-3 and executive officer, and former 1st Battalion commander, succeeded to regimental command.
On 16 February 1945, the 503rd RCT jumped on Fortress Corregidor to liberate that island from occupying Japanese forces. Braving intense fire, the paratroopers rushed forward and overcame the heavy blockhouse defenses, dropping explosives into embrasures to kill hidden Japanese gunners. For its successful capture of Corregidor, the unit was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation and received its nickname, "the Rock Regiment" from it. The regimental insignia was designed by Private First Class Thomas M. McNeill while recuperating from his injuries and dengue fever, hepatitis, and malaria on Mindoro Island, following the battle of Corregidor.
After returning to Mindoro, the 503rd was alerted for another combat jump, this time in the central Philippines to reinforce the 40th Infantry Division in its fight on Negros island. However, the jump was canceled and the combat team landed amphibiously on 7 April 1945. It would spend the remainder of the war conducting mopping up operations on the island, often against fanatical enemy resistance; notably, one of the Japanese units the 503rd fought was the remnants of the battered 2nd Raiding Brigade of Japanese paratroopers. After Japan's surrender in August 1945, over 6,150 Japanese soldiers surrendered to the 503rd, although some continued to hold out until October.

Post-WWII history

Inactivated at Camp Anza, California, in December 1945, it was reactivated and redesignated as the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment in February 1951 and assigned to the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, following the departure of the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment to Korea as a separate airborne regimental combat team. In 1956 the 503rd went with the rest of the 11th Airborne Division to posts in southeastern Germany.
The 503rd was relieved on 1 March 1957 from assignment to the 11th Airborne Division and was concurrently reorganized and redesignated as the 503rd Infantry, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System. This year marked the point during which infantry regimental numbers ceased indicating actual tactical units but instead were used in designating battle groups of Pentomic divisions, which did not have regiments and battalions.
On 1 July 1958 the 11th Airborne Division was inactivated and its personnel and equipment reflagged as the 24th Infantry Division; however, two of the division's five battle groups remained on jump status with Airborne designations: the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 187th Infantry, and the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 503d Infantry. This was a short-term assignment, however, and on 7 January 1959 1-503d was relieved from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division and assigned to the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.
File:中美聯合「天兵演習」在台灣南部舉行.jpg|thumb|left|Tien Bing No. 1 exercise in Pingtung, Taiwan, 1960
The move was accompanied by the rotation of the only other airborne battle group, 1-187th, from the 24th to the 82nd. Concurrently 1-504th and 1-505th were relieved from the 82nd and assigned to the 8th Infantry Division in central Germany. At Fort Bragg, 1-503rd joined 2-503rd, already assigned to the 82nd, as one of the division's five battle groups.
On 24 June 1960 the 1st ABG, 503d Infantry was relieved from assignment to the 82d Airborne Division and assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, remaining there until 1 July 1961 when it was relieved from the division as it traveled to Okinawa. The ABG was accompanied by Battery C, 319th Artillery, later reorganized and redesignated as HHB, 3d Battalion, 319th Field Artillery. On 26 March 1963 it was assigned to the newly activated 173d Airborne Brigade, and shortly thereafter it was reorganized and redesignated as the 2d Battalion, 503d Infantry on 25 June 1963. Additionally, on 26 March 1963 the 1st ABG, 503d Infantry was relieved from assignment to the 82d Airborne Division, assigned to the 173d Airborne Brigade and subsequently reorganized and redesignated as a battalion as well.