The 82nd was introduced to combat under the most difficult conditions. On July 9th, 1943, the night before the invasion of Sicily, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment under Col James Gavin, plus the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was to jump on the west coast of Sicily between Gela and Necemi to block German and Italian forces from the Beach Head. The Mission code name for the Sicilian Invasion was, “Husky”.

As the troopers waited to load on the Douglas C47s at an airfield at Kairouan, Tunisia, the meteorologist report came in advising that winds of more than 35 miles per hour were stirring in the Mediterranean. During training, troops were not allowed to jump if winds were over 20 miles per hour. Unfortunately the amphibious landing elements were already steaming towards Sicily and Eisenhower made the decision to go through with the airborne plan. The air armada flew through the night and approached the coast of Sicily. The high winds blew the planes to the east of the prearranged drop zones and the inexperienced pilots were unable to adjust so most of the troops were dropped miles from their Drop Zones. What could have been an unmitigated disaster actually became an advantage to the Americans cause. The troopers who were widely dispersed began to make their way as best they could through the night to their objectives. They cut communications and attacked enemy units as they went. The reports of the airborne landings were so numerous and so dispersed that the German and Italian high commands were thoroughly confused and there was an initial delay which gave the invasion forces precious time to land and consolidate. Fortunately, one company other than the 505th Parachute Infantry and the 3rd battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry landed within their assigned areas and under the command of Col. James M. Gavin, in an impressive feat of arms, were able to take their objective and repel an armored attack of the Herman Goering Division until the 1st Infantry Division was able to consolidate its beach head and advance inland.

On the following night, the rest of Col. Ruben Tucker’s 504th was ready to jump. The drop zone was to be Farella, an abandoned airfield three miles east of Gela. Tucker’s two remaining battalions, along with the 376th Field Artillery Battalion, were ordered by Patton to take the pressure off of the Gela area. “At first all went well. All planes sighted the beacons of Malta and made the left turn to Sicily. Some of the convoy ships opened fire on some of the planes but no hits were registered”. This was nothing compared to what was to come. Gen. Ridgeway and his staff were at the field to watch the jump. “Ridgeway had personally visited 6 pairs of anti-aircraft guns to make sure they had the word that the 504th was coming in. Five did and one didn’t".” He communicated with the anti-aircraft commander to tell him to advise his batteries again of the imminent arrival of the 504th. The 504th Infantry minus its 3rd battalion took off from the airfield at Karouan, Tunisia and reached the Sicilian beachhead about 10:40 pm. As the low flying C-47’s (about 600 ft high) turned to fly up the West Coast, Murphy’s Law would have it that the 23rd air raid of the day had occurred right before the C-47’s appeared. These troop carriers were in tight formation carrying Warren William's 1st Bn, Bill Yarborough's 2nd Bn and the 376th Field Artillery Battalion commanded by Wilber M. Griffith. All in all 1902 troopers were now in bound to their Drop Zones. Someone, it was never determined who, fired on this armada. All of a sudden the Navy and Army units below who had just undergone a German Bombing attack opened up with every weapon available on the 504th’s C-47’s. The sky exploded like the 4th of July with slow moving C-47’s exploding in mid-air and smoking from hits from the intense flak. Gen. Ridgeway watched horrified unable to stop the massacre of his boys. The C-47’s in tight formation were sitting ducks.

Twenty-three other planes were lost that night with them close to 400 brave men lost their lives. Some never knew what hit them. “When Eisenhower received the first reports on the 504th disaster, he was furious. He wrote Patton: “if the cited report is true, the incident could have been occasioned only by inexcusable carelessness and negligence on the part of someone. You will institute within your command an immediate and exhaustive investigation into allegations with a view to fixing responsibility. Report of pertinent facts is desired and if the persons found responsible are serving in your command, I want a statement of disciplinary action taken by you. Patton confided to his diary:” As far as I can see if anyone is blamable it must be myself but personally I feel immune to censure… Perhaps Ike is looking for an excuse to relieve me”.

Gen. Ridgeway had this to say about the disaster of the airborne part of “Operation Husky”. "The responsibity for loss of life and material resulting from this operation is so divided, so difficult to fix with impartial justice, and so questionable of ultimate value to the service because of the acrimonious debates which would follow efforts to hold responsible persons or service to account, that disciplinary action is of doubtful wisdom deplorable as is the loss of life which occurred. I believe that the lessons now learned could have been driven home in no other way, and that these lessons provide a sound basis of the belief that recurrence can be avoided. The losses are part of the inevitable price of war in human life." Gen. Ridgeway’s assessment is probably true. However, one-foot note to this Airborne disaster should be noted. The British and Americans were well aware of the presence of the Herman Goring Division in the area of the 505th’s and 3rd Bn 504th Drop Zone on the first night of the Airborne Operation. However, they did not tell Gen. Gavin because they wanted to protect the secret of Ultra thus sacrificing Gavin and his men. It was only by an amazing feat of arms by these troopers that they stopped a German armored Division with ineffective bazookas, which required several well-placed shots to kill a German tanks. This was a shining testament to the skill and courage of the men of the 82nd and what made the presence of The All American’s in battle a constant threat to The German High Command.

Veteran Stories
James M. McNamara (From "Drop Zone Sicily" By William Breur)

The 504th then was in for its first Combat jump in Sicily. The following is taken from "Drop Zone Sicily" by William B. Breuer. "Shortly after bailing out of their C-47 along the Southeastern Coast of Sicily on the night of D-Day plus two, PFC.James M. McNamara and his close friend PFC. Joseph Hart were huddled in scrub brush in the darkness trying to gain their bearings. They had jumped from the same plane, along with the rest of the stick, without waiting for the green light. The C-47 flying at only 500 feet, was raked with machine gun and .20 millimeter gunfire.

McNamara and Hart conversed in hushed tones and agreed that they had no idea where they were. They did realize they had landed within 150 yards of the sea and would have drown in their parachutes had they lept out only three seconds earlier.

As the pair of troopers pondered their next move above the roar of the anti-aircraft guns, they heard on a nearby loudspeaker blare out in English, GERMAN PARATROOPERS HAVE JUST LANDED ALL AROUND US!

Unsure if the greatest danger lay with enemy troops or friendly ground forces, McNamara and Hart edged into a ditch and began crawling away from the panicky voice on the loudspeaker. Presently, they heard American voices in the darkness and determined that these were members of a Quartermaster Company stationed along the beach.

Crawling closer and spotting several shadowing figures,the pair of troopers decided to take the risk and make their identity known. McNamara got out of the ditch, stood in the open and shouted,"WE'RE AMERICAN PARATROOPERS!"

Several moments of silence followed and then a burst of automatic weapons fire from the bivwack area sent McNamara diving back into the ditch. As the two friends contemplated their next action, McNamara whispered to Hart, "you know, Joe, I think we should have stayed in the States as latrine orderlies." (The C-47 they were in was shot down by the U.S. Navy in a case of mistaken identity. Twenty three other planes were lost and over 400 more troopers lost their lives."

Fred Baldino (from interview with Jim McNamara)

Cpl. Fred Baldino remembers the long march with A Company along with Sgt. Thomas McCarthy. "We advanced up the western side of Sicily. We encountered mostly Italian troops who usually gave up easily. ME 109's did strafe us while we were being moved up to the front in trucks near Aggragento. Two A CO boys, Jim Gagan and Joe Hirsh, got hit bad and it ended the combat for them. I was hit the same time but it was only a flesh wound in the arm and within a week I was back with the company..."