On Monday, July 4, 2016, our boys of the 507th PIR recreated a little piece of history as we marched through the streets of Omaha's Historic Field Club Neighborhood. 73 years ago on May 23, 1943, sixteen 507th troopers and their mascot dog, Geronimo, jumped for 25,000 spectators in Omaha. The jump was done in conjunction with the Field Club Neighborhood Dog Show. For this occasion we chose to represent the men of the 507th as they would have looked in the towns and fields of Normandy following their D-Day jump. We wore our M42 jump suits with full field gear and even blackened our faces. We did two loops around the crowded parade route directly behind the 1820's reenactors from Fort Atkinson State Historical Park. We took some really great photos in front of the Westminster Presbyterian Church which we all thought resembled an old church somewhere in Normandy. We were happy that all six of us were able to be a part of this special event and hopefully we can do it again next year!
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The boys of B Company, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment kicked off the month of March with an exciting and educational training day on Sunday, March 6. Our training was intended to simulate the 507th's arrival in Alliance, Nebraska in March 1943. The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny with temperatures pushing into the 70s by the afternoon. Our uniform of the day consisted of HBT Coveralls with basic paratrooper field gear including the Service Gas Mask in the MIVA1Bag. SSgt. Krelle led the training with Sgt. Green, Pfc. Hazard, Pfc. Williams, Pvt. Hinz and Pvt. Paul forming up the squad. The day started out with some basic drill with and without arms. We pulled out some old cadence calls as we marched along dusty gravel roads. We had classroom instruction time on the mission of parachute troops, hand signals, knowing our enemy, and Sgt. Green demonstrated the use of the Service Gas Mask. We performed a road march all the way to the Missouri River where we took a break over some K-Rations, canned peaches and chocolate bars. Afterwards, we brushed up on squad formations in the field as well as dropping to a prone position from a run. We finished our instruction by simulating the attack of an enemy position and clearing a linear obstacle. When all was said and done we had marched over 3.5 miles throughout the day. It was a top notch training event and a great way to kick off 2016 in the field. This was merely one step on the 507th's way to the eventual invasion of Europe!
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