555th Parachute Infantry Battalion ( United States ) The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was an all - black airborne unit of the United States Army during World War II . History . Activation . The unit was activated as a result of a recommendation made in December 1942 by the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies , chaired by the Assistant Secretary of War , John J . McCloy . In approving the committee ' s recommendation for a black parachute battalion , Chief of Staff General George C . Marshall decided to start with a company , and on 25 February 1943 the 555th Parachute Infantry Company was constituted . On 19 December 1943 , Headquarters , Army Ground Forces , authorized the activation of the company as an all - black unit with black officers as well as black enlisted men . All unit members were to be volunteers , with an enlisted cadre to be selected from personnel of the 92d Infantry Division at Fort Huachuca , Arizona . The company was officially activated on 30 December 1943 at Fort Benning , Georgia . After several months of training , the unit moved to Camp Mackall , North Carolina , where it was reorganized and redesignated on 25 November 1944 as Company A of the newly activated 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion . World War II . The battalion did not serve overseas during World War II . One of the reasons for this decision was segregation . European theater commanders " simply had no use " for the Black jumpers . The Asian theater was a different matter . Members of the 555 hoped to get into the war against the Japanese . According to Sgt . Walter Morris " It was a secret mission called Operation Firefly . We thought we were going overseas to [ Gen . Douglas ] MacArthur ' s theater " . It wasn ' t until they arrived in Oregon , in May 1945 that they learned they ' d be fighting the Japanese on the fire line in the Western United States . During the winter of 1944 – 45 , the Japanese sent 9000 fire balloons toward the western coast of North America . It was believed 1000 succeeded in reaching the United States , and 300 were witnessed . After three days , each balloon dropped an incendiary bomb . In order to conceal the efficacy of these attacks , the missions of the 555th was kept clandestine in nature . In addition to fires started by the enemy incendiary devices , the 555th fought numerous other forest fires . Stationed at Pendleton Field , Oregon ( formerly the base of the pilots and aircraft selected for the Doolittle raid on Japan ) , with a detachment in Chico , California , unit members courageously participated in dangerous fire - fighting missions throughout the Pacific Northwest during the summer and fall of 1945 . The group engaged in over 1200 missions , earning the nickname " Smoke Jumpers " in addition to " Triple Nickles . " The only fatality in the unit died while jumping on 6 August 1945 . The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was nicknamed the " Triple Nickles " because of its numerical designation and the selection of 17 of the original 20 - member " colored test platoon " from the 92nd Infantry ( Buffalo ) Division . Hence , the origin of the term Buffalo Nickles ; the spelling derives from old English . Three buffalo nickels joined in a triangle or pyramid is the identifying symbol . Soon after returning to Camp Mackall in October 1945 , the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was transferred to Fort Bragg , North Carolina , its home for the next two years . During this period the unit was attached to the elite 82d Airborne Division . When the battalion was inactivated on 15 December 1947 , most of its personnel were reassigned to the division ' s organic 3d Battalion , 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment . Disbandment . On 22 August 1950 the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was disbanded . Many of its former members later fought in the Korean War , in other units . First Lieutenant Harry Sutton , one of the battalion ' s former officers , died leading a rearguard action during the Hungnam Evacuation and was decorated posthumously with the Silver Star . Fiction . Although not specifically named , an all - Black parachute unit is prominently mentioned in the 1948 novel " Fire " , by George R . Stewart . Jumping into an uncontrolled California forest fire , they fight it for several days alongside people of many ethnic backgrounds . In John Ringo ' s Legacy of the Aldenata military science fiction series , the 555 PIR is reactivated as the 555th Mobile Infantry Regiment . The reborn " Triple Nickle " Regiment was one of the most highly decorated units in the Defense of Earth during the Posleen War . The Triple Nickles is prominently featured in the historical novel , " The Last Jump - A Novel of World War II " by John E . Nevola . The Triple Nickles are an important part of the book Jump Into the Sky , written by Shelley Pearsall .