504th Infantry Regiment ( United States ) The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment ( 504th PIR ) is an airborne infantry regiment in the United States Army , first formed in 1942 as part of the 82nd Airborne Division . Organization . The regiment was initially constituted on 24 February 1942 in the Army of the United States as the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment . The First , Second and Third Battalions were constituted on 24 February 1942 as Company A , B , and C , respectively , of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment , and were activated 1 May 1942 at Fort Benning , Georgia , and was assigned to the United States Army Airborne Command . When it completed its regimental training , it was assigned on 15 August 1942 to the 82nd Airborne Division . World War II . The regiment moved from Fort Benning to Fort Bragg on 30 September 1942 to finish its training , fill its Table of Organization and Equipment , and prepare for its Staging Call . When the call came , it Staged at Camp Edwards on 18 April 1943 , and it made its Port Call on 10 May 1943 , when it departed the New York Port of Embarkation . North Africa , April 1943 . On 29 April 1943 , the 504th boarded the troop ship USS George Washington which steamed to North Africa and the regiment ' s first overseas port of call , Casablanca . Upon arrival on 10 May 1943 , the troops marnd eight miles south of the city where they established a cantonment area consisting of a few stone huts and a tent city . Soon , the regiment was moved by " 40 and 8 ’ s " northward to Oujda , Algeria . The " 40 and 8 ’ s " were railroad cars dating from the First World War , so called because they were designed to carry 40 men or 8 horses . Training intensified and Generals Eisenhower , Clark , and Patton , along with the Sultan of Morocco and officials of every Allied nation watched the 504th go through its paces . Training included many practice jumps , and one conducted in winds of up to 30 miles - per - hour put nearly 30 % of the unit in the hospital with broken bones , sprains and bruises . Finally , the order came and the regiment moved by truck to Kairouan , Tunisia , which was to be the 82nd Airborne Division ’ s point of departure for the invasion of Sicily . Sicily , July 1943 . General James M . Gavin led the division during the Operation Husky , and on 9 July 1943 , the 504th PIR helped spearhead the invasion of Sicily in the first airborne military offensive of the history of the United States of America . The 504th paratroopers crossed over the Sicilian coast on schedule . Despite extensive precautions to avoid an incident , near the Sicilian coast a nervous Allied naval vessel suddenly fired upon the formation . Immediately , all other naval vessels and shore troops joined in , downing friendly aircraft and forcing planeloads of paratroopers to exit far from their intended drop zones in one of the greatest tragedies of World War II . http : / / www . ibiblio . org / hyperwar / USA / USA - MTO - Sicily / USA - MTO - Sicily - 9 . html Colonel Tucker ’ s plane , after twice flying the length of the Sicilian coast and with well over 2 , 000 holes in its fuselage , finally reached the drop zone near Gela , Sicily . By morning , only 400 of the regiment ’ s 1600 soldiers had reached the objective area . The others had been dropped in isolated groups on all parts of the island and carried out demolitions , cut lines of communication , established island roadblocks , ambushed German and Italian motorized columns , and caused so much confusion over such an extensive area that initial German radio reports estimated the number of American parachutists dropped to be over ten times the actual number . On 13 July 1943 , the 504th moved out , spearheading the 82nd Airborne Division ’ s drive northwest along the southern coast of Sicily . With captured Italian light tanks , trucks , motorcycles , horses , mules , bicycles , and even wheelbarrows pressed into service , the 82nd encountered only light resistance and took 22 , 000 prisoners in their first contact with enemy forces . Overall , the Sicilian operation proved costly both in lives and equipment , but the unit gained valuable fighting experience and managed to hurt the enemy in the process . It was with this experience and pride that the 504th returned to its base in Kairouan to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy . Devils in Italy . Back in North Africa , replacements arrived , training resumed , and 3rd Battalion was again detached , this time to Bizerte for special beach assault training with the 325th Glider Infantry and the Rangers . The 1st and 2nd Battalions moved back to Sicily and trained for a drop at Capua — in vain , however , because the enemy had been tipped off and was waiting on the drop zone . Another disappointment followed with the cancellation of the drop on Rome . Last minute intelligence disclosed that " negotiations " between General Taylor and Marshal Badoglio were a trap . Finally , in early September , the 3rd Battalion rejoined the 325th and the Rangers , boarded landing craft , and set out to sea . The men knew they were going to Italy , but little else . Troopers from H Company , with a group of Rangers , made the initial landing on 9 September 1943 on the Italian coast at Maiori . They quickly advanced inland to seize the Chiunzi Pass and a vital railroad tunnel . On 11 September 1943 , the 3rd Battalion headquarters and G and I Companies , along with the remainder of the 325th Combat Team , swerved south and landed on bloody Salerno beach . The military situation deteriorated with each passing hour as German tanks and infantry forces tried to push the unit back into the sea . The 3rd Battalion troopers dug in and held on . On standby at airfields in Sicily , the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 504th were alerted , issued chutes , and loaded on aircraft without knowledge of their destination . Receiving their briefing aboard the plane , the men were told that the 5th Army beachhead was in danger and they were needed to jump in behind friendly lines . Flying in columns of battalions , they exited over the barrels of gasoline - soaked sand that formed a flaming " T " in the center of the drop zone . The regiment assembled quickly and moved to the sounds of cannon and small arms fire within the hour . By dawn , the unit was firmly set in defensive positions . The days that followed were , in the words of General Mark Clark , Commander of the 5th Army , " responsible for saving the Salerno beachhead . " As the 504th ( minus 3rd Battalion ) took the high ground at Altavilla , the enemy counterattacked and the Commander of 6th Corps , General Dawley , suggested the unit withdraw . Epitomizing the determined spirit of the regiment , Colonel Tucker vehemently replied , " Retreat , Hell ! — Send me my other battalion ! " The 3rd Battalion then rejoined the 504th , the enemy was repulsed , and the Salerno beachhead was saved . The operation secured the flanks of the 5th Army , allowing it to break out of the coastal plain and drive on to Naples . On 1 October 1943 , the 504th became the first infantry unit to enter Naples , which it subsequently garrisoned . The operation was not only a success , but it also stands as one of history ’ s greatest examples of the mobility of the airborne unit : within only eight hours of notification , the 504th developed and disseminated its tactical plan , prepared for combat , loaded aircraft and jumped onto its assigned drop zone to engage the enemy and turn the tide of battle . During the next several months in Central Italy , the 504th fought in difficult terrain against a determined enemy . On steep , barren slopes , the regiment assaulted one hill after another . Mule trains aided in the evacuation of wounded to some extent , but casualties were often carried for hours down the steep hillsides just to reach the road . Finally , the regiment was pulled back to Naples on 4 January 1944 as rumors of another parachute mission spread . The operation was to be called " Shingle , " and it involved an airborne assault into a sector behind the coastal town of Anzio , 35 miles south of Rome . It seemed , however , that even the locals in Naples knew of the operation , so the 504th was glad that the beach would be assaulted from troop - carrying landing craft . The landing on Red Beach went smoothly — at least until enemy planes started their strafing runs on the landing craft . The unit disembarked under fire and was sent shortly thereafter to patrol in force along the Mussolini Canal . After several days of intense German artillery fire , the enemy launched his main drive to push the Allies back into the sea . The 3rd Battalion was committed with the British First ( Guards ) Division in the heaviest fighting , with the paratrooper companies reduced in strength to between 20 and 30 men . H Company drove forward to rescue a captured British General and was cut off . I Company broke through to them with their remaining 16 men . For its outstanding performance from 8 to 12 February 1944 , the battalion was presented one of the first Presidential Unit Citation s awarded in the European Theater of Operations . For the remainder of their eight week stay on the Anzio beachhead , the men of the 504th found themselves fighting defensive battles instead of the offensive operations for which they were better suited . For the first time the men were engaged in trench warfare like that of the First World War , with barbed wire entanglements and minefields in front and between alternate positions . It was during this battle that the 504th acquired the nickname " The Devils in Baggy Pants , " taken from the following entry found in the diary of a German officer killed at Anzio : On 23 March 1944 , the 504th was pulled out of the beachhead by landing craft and returned to Naples . The campaign had been costly , but enemy losses exceeded those of the regiment by over tenfold , and the Allies maintained control of the beachhead . Shortly thereafter , the 504th boarded the " Capetown Castle " and steamed to England . Because of the significant casualties suffered in Italy , the 504th was withheld from the Normandy invasion to reorganize . ( The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was used in its place . ) From England to the Netherlands . Although Nazi broadcasters warned the unit by radio that German submarines would never let the " Capetown Castle " past the Straits of Gibraltar , the only danger the ship encountered came when all the troops rushed to the same side of the vessel as it pulled into Liverpool on 22 April 1944 . The 82nd Airborne Division band greeted them with " We ’ re All American and proud to be . . . , " and it was assumed that the 504th would rejoin the 82nd for the upcoming invasion at Normandy . As D - day approached , however , it became apparent that the 504th would be held back . A lack of replacements prevented the regiment from participating in the invasion , so only a few dozen 504th troopers were taken as pathfinders . The 504th thus remained in England as " Dry Runs " came one after another . Missions were scheduled for France , Belgium , and the Netherlands and then canceled at the last moment . For three days the troopers waited for the fog to lift to allow them to drop into Belgium , but the wait proved long enough for General Patton ’ s Army to overrun the drop zones , thereby returning the 504th to its English garrison . So , when the word came on 15 September for the 82nd to jump in ahead of the Second Army , 57 miles behind enemy lines in the vicinity of Grave , few believed the mission would actually be conducted . The operation would require seizing the longest bridge in Europe over the Maas River and several other bridges over the Maas - Waal Canal . The men of the 504th became even more doubtful the mission would go when told that the planned flight was through the Scheldt Estuary ( nicknamed " Flak Alley " by Allied bomber pilots ) and that they were reportedly outnumbered by 4 , 000 of Hitler ’ s Schutzstaffeln ( SS ) troops and an unknown number of German tanks . No cancellation was received , however , and on 17 September 1944 at 1231 hours , the pathfinders of the 504th landed on the drop zone , followed thirty minutes later by the rest of the regiment and C Company , 307th Engineer Battalion , to become the first Allied troops to land in the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden — the largest airborne operation in history . By 1800 hours , the 504th had accomplished its assigned mission ( although the enemy had managed to destroy one of the bridges ) . In just four hours , the regiment had jumped , assembled , engaged the enemy , and seized its objectives . For the next two days , the regiment held its ground and conducted aggressive combat and reconnaissance patrols until the Irish guards made the ground link - up , spearheading the advance of the 30th Corps of the Second British Army . However , the Nijmegen road and rail bridges , which were the last remaining link to British Airborne forces in Arnhem , remained in enemy hands , and the far bank was heavily defended by the Germans . An assault crossing of the river was necessary , but it was a seemingly impossible task . Gavin intended to make a pre - dawn crossing after consulting with British Generals Brian Horrocks and Frederick Browning in the presence of senior officers of the Guards Armoured and 82nd Airborne divisions , and Colonel Reuben Tucker of the 504th PIR , and during the night he drew up a plan , and alerted the troops at 0600 in the expectation of the boats to be provided by the British XXX Corps . However , the crossing did not commence until 1500 after the guns of 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and 153rd Field Regiment Royal Artillery , and two troops of the Grenadier Guards Sherman tanks opened fire on the northern ( Lent ) bank . The British provided 26 canvas boats , each long , that the 504th used to cross the - wide river . The 3rd Battalion ' s H and I companies , and some engineers from the 307th Engineer Battalion crossed in the first wave , 15 men to a boat , and they were immediately on leaving the far shore the target of German 88mm cannons , 20mm cannons , flak wagons , machine guns and riflemen . Nonetheless , the crossing was launched . With only 2 - 4 oars in each boat , the remaining men rowed with the rifle butts . Only 13 boats made it across , and only 11 of those were in condition to return across the river to deliver succeeding waves . The 1st Battalion formed the second wave , and they established a firm bridgehead from which the units carried the battle to the enemy defending the old Fort Belvedere and captured the bridge from the north side . Dempsey , commander of the Second British Army , after witnessing the crossing , characterized the attack with a single word as he shook his head and said , " Unbelievable . " Six crossings were made by 1900 . It was there that Dempsey called the 82nd Division the greatest in the world . Because only 11 boats returned from the first crossing , eight from the second and five from the third , A Company that followed used locally sourced wooden fishing boats . France and Belgium , November 1944 . On 16 November 1944 , the 504th arrived at Camp Sissone near Rheims in Northern France on British lorries , greeted again by the traditional " We ’ re All American . . . " of the 82nd band . Soon after , the Division moved to Camp Laon and began training with the new C - 46 Commando aircraft , the first aircraft with two troop doors for parachute exits . At 2100 hours on the night of 17 December 1944 , Colonel Tucker was summoned to the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters . There he learned that the Germans had broken through into Belgium and Luxembourg with a powerful armored thrust launched south of Aachen in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge . The next morning the 504th paratroopers started for Bastogne , not in airplanes , but in large trucks . Along the way , their destination was changed to Werbomont — a point more seriously threatened . The Devils conducted a night movement on foot for eight miles to take up defensive positions . On 19 December Colonel Tucker was ordered to Rahier and Cheneux to link up with the 505th at Trois Ponts . The 1st Battalion was ordered to take the towns Brume , Rhier , and Cheneux . At 1400 on 20 December 1944 , 1st Battalion ( less A Company ) moved out toward Cheneux , where it was immediately engaged by a battalion of the SS - Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper ' s Kampfgruppe Peiper of the I SS Panzer Corps . Crossing an open 400 - yard field laced every fifteen yards with barbed wire , the 1st Battalion faced the heaviest enemy fire the 504th had ever encountered , including heavy machine - guns , a 20mm gun , and a half - dozen German armored vehicles . The 504th deployed a captured German halftrack armed with a 70mm gun manned by two paratroopers with no training in its use . They were successful in knocking out several enemy positions . Still , the 504th took very heavy losses crossing the open field , and at 1700 were ordered to withdraw to the edge of a wood . Col . Tucker ordered the 1st Battalion to engage in a night assault on the German forces in Cheneux that night . The Devils pressed forward , and by nightfall had given the Germans their first defeat of the Battle of the Bulge . Through heavy fire , Companies B and C wiped out an estimated five companies of German forces , as well as fourteen flak - wagons , six half - tracks , four trucks , and four 105mm howitzers . However , the two companies were decimated , with 23 killed and 202 wounded ; eighteen enlisted men remained in Company B , and thirty - eight men and three officers in Company C . Minus Company A , the 1st Battalion of the 504 , as well as the first platoon , Company C , 307th Engineer Battalion , were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their outstanding performance during this action . Throughout the initial days of battle with experienced German troops , the regiment wore down the enemy and discovered the Germans had only poorly organized and inadequately equipped follow - on forces . Soon thereafter , the paratroopers received the orders they had been expecting — to attack the Siegfried Line . The regiment was positioned on the right flank of the 1st Army , and on 28 January 1945 the 504th advanced through the Belgian forest of Bullingen in columns of two along a deep snowy trail , meeting only spotty resistance along the way . While approaching Herresbach , the regiment encountered an enemy battalion in a head - on engagement that surprised both elements . The battle - wise paratroopers , without hesitation , accelerated their pace and moved on the enemy . The machine guns of the lead tank opened up on the Germans , while the men of the 504th fired their weapons from the hip at shooting - gallery speed . Within ten minutes , the enemy was overrun with more than 100 killed and 180 captured . Not a single 504th paratrooper was killed or wounded . Finally , on 1 February 1945 , the order came to conduct the assault on the Siegfried Line through the Belgian Fort Gerolstein . The following day the 1st and 2nd Battalions jumped off on the attack . Moving cautiously from bunker to bunker , the troopers encountered heavy machine gun and small arms fire at all points . Ironically , the German Army ’ s own Panzerfaust ( a light anti - tank weapon with which the 504th was well - equipped ) was the regiment ’ s most effective weapon against the German pillboxes . Despite the presence of thousands of mines and booby traps , only a small number of those disturbed actually detonated . Freezing temperatures , snow , ice and years of exposure had corroded the detonators . Vicious enemy counterattacks on 3 and 4 February were repulsed , and the unit was relieved . The regiment moved back to Grand Halleux where it spent several days before being trucked across the Belgian - German border . From Aachen , it moved by train back to Laon , France to await orders . On to Berlin . Colonel Tucker and the advance detail left Laon on 1 April 1945 and traveled by jeep 270 miles to Cologne ( Köln ) , Germany . Three days later the regiment arrived , mostly in " 40 and 8s , " and immediately took up positions along the West Bank of the Rhine River . 504th patrols crossed nightly in small boats , engaging in brisk fire - fights almost every patrol . The enemy made a few attempts to cross to the regiment ’ s side of the river , but all efforts were turned back . On 6 April 1945 , A Company crossed the Rhine at 0230 hours and immediately made contact with the enemy . Under heavy fire and in a minefield , the first wave of 504th troopers was split into two elements , each of which fought its way independently to the predesignated objective . There they rejoined forces , knocked out several machine gun nests , and established a roadblock . Using similar tactics , succeeding waves infiltrated the enemy and set up a defense in the village of Hitdorf . For a short time , all was calm . Company A was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for its action during this engagement . Then the enemy counterattacked . The first counterattack was broken less than fifty yards from the perimeter , while the second was preceded by heavy artillery preparation . As enemy tanks and infantry closed in , the outnumbered and outgunned A Company fought its way back to the river ' s edge . The regiment sent I Company across to support the withdrawal . The 504th had lost only nine men to the enemy ’ s 150 , but whether the two companies achieved the higher aim of diverting enemy forces from a more important sector upstream is unknown . For the men involved , it was a small - scale " Dunkirk " with a hollow satisfaction achieved . The 504th was then relieved of its active defense of the Rhine and was directed to patrol the area north of Cologne until 1 May 1945 . With little resistance to slow it down , the regiment established its command post in the town of Breetze , Germany on the west bank of the Elbe River . Although tanks had been attached to the unit , the 504th was outnumbered 100 to 1 by German troops clogging every road . Nevertheless , throughout the next several days , the Americans stood at 100 - yard intervals collecting souvenirs by the jeep - load as almost never - ending columns of enemy forces poured through the regiment ’ s lines to surrender . At 1000 hours on 3 May 1945 , a jeep full of I Company men grew tired of waiting for a Russian element to link up with them , so they drove down the south side of the Elde and then twelve more miles to the town of Eldenburg . There they were entertained by a company of Cossacks , whose specific unit designation none of the men could recall after partaking of the various toasts offered in honor of Roosevelt , Churchill and Stalin . The war officially ended in Europe on 8 May 1945 . The 504th returned briefly to Nancy , France until the 82nd Airborne Division , the 11th Armoured Division ( United Kingdom ) and the 5th Cossack Division were called upon to serve as the occupation forces in Berlin . Here the 82nd Airborne Division earned the name , " America ’ s Guard of Honor , " as a fitting end to hostilities in which the 504th had chased the German Army some across the European Theater . Following their occupation duty with the 82nd Airborne Division in Berlin , the Devils reported to Fort Bragg , North Carolina . Post World War II service . Occupation and garrison . Following their occupation duty with the 82d Airborne Division in Berlin , the Devils reported to Fort Bragg , North Carolina . The regiment remained at Fort Bragg until 1957 , when the era of infantry regiments as tactical units ended and the Pentomic era began , in which designations were used to perpetuate lineages and honors . On 1 September of that year the lineage of Company A , 504PIR was reorganized and redesignated as HHC , 1st Airborne Battle Group , 504th Infantry and remained assigned to the 82nd as one of five battle groups that replaced the three regiments previously assigned to the division . The lineage of Company B , 504PIR was used to reflag existing elements of the 11th Airborne Division in Germany as HHC , 2nd Airborne Battle Group , 504th Infantry . The 1st ABG , 504th Infantry remained assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division until 11 December 1958 when it rotated to Germany ( along with 1 - 505th ) to become part of the Airborne component of the newly reactivated 8th Infantry Division ( Mechanized ) . Both 1 - 504th and 1 - 505th were replaced in the 82nd by 1 - 187th and 1 - 503rd , which rotated from the 24th Infantry Division in Germany to the 82nd . The colors of both remained with the 8th until the end of the Pentomic era , at which time ( 1 April 1963 ) they were reorganized and reflagged as 1st and 2nd Battalions ( Airborne ) , 509th Infantry , elements of the division ' s 1st Brigade ( Airborne ) . The colors of 1 - 504th returned to the 82nd , and on 25 May 1963 they were reorganized and redesignated as 1st Battalion ( Airborne ) , 504th Infantry , an element of the 1st Brigade , 82nd Airborne Division . The 2nd ABG , 504th Infantry remained with the 11th Airborne Division in Germany only until 1 July 1958 , when its colors were inactivated and the unit was reflagged as a non - Airborne battle group and the division was reflagged as the 24th Infantry Division . The colors were relieved on 9 May 1960 from assignment to the inactive 11th Airborne Division and assigned to the 82d Airborne Division and reactivated on 1 July 1960 , and then reorganized and redesignated on 25 May 1964 as the 2d Battalion ( Airborne ) , 504th Infantry , joined 1 - 504th as an element of the 1st Brigade , 82nd Airborne Division . The Dominican Republic , April 1965 . On 26 April 1965 , the 82d Airborne Division received orders to prepare to deploy forces to the Dominican Republic . Two days earlier , a revolution had erupted in the Caribbean nation which put the safety of almost 3 , 000 American citizens in jeopardy . The initial deployment of 82d Airborne soldiers came on 30 April 1965 , and the two battalions of the 504th followed on 3 May 1965 , landing at San Isidro Air Base to perform both military and humanitarian missions in support of Operation Power Pack . The 504th conducted military operations to help establish and maintain control of Santo Domingo and to provide security along the All American Expressway that ran through the city . During these operations , the 504th was often subject to sniper fire and in repeated contact with enemy factions , as it contributed greatly to the establishment of security and to the distribution of food and medical supplies to those in need . Only five days after the arrival of the first U . S . forces , approximately 2 , 700 American citizens and 1 , 400 civilians from other nations were evacuated without injury . However , it became apparent that to restore stability to the Dominican Republic would require a continued U . S . presence , so the 504th remained as part of the Inter - American Peace Force for over a year , not returning to Fort Bragg until the summer of 1966 . U . S . troops were opposed by forces loyal to Juan Bosch , the Cuban / Soviet puppet president who was committed to spreading the totalitarian communist revolution to other island nations . Operation Golden Pheasant , Honduras 1988 . In March 1988 , 1st and 2d Battalions , 504th were joined soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division ( Light ) at Fort Ord , California in a deployment to Honduras as part of Operation Golden Pheasant - The 7th ID was the first unit on the ground and went directly to protect the local population from attack by Cuban armed communist guerrillas - a deployment ordered by President Reagan in response to actions by the Cuban and Soviet - supported Nicaraguan Sandinistas that threatened the stability of Honduras ’ democratic government . On 17 March 1988 , 1st Battalion , 504th landed at Tegucigalpa , a Honduran Air Force Base that was the headquarters for the U . S . military presence in Honduras . 2d Battalion jumped onto the airfield a day later , and the troopers of the 504th began rigorous training exercises with orders to avoid the fighting on the border . Had those orders changed , the Devils were prepared to fight , but the invading Sandinista troops had already begun to withdraw . In only a few days , the Sandinistan government negotiated a truce with Contra leaders , and by the end of March the paratroopers of the 504th had returned to Fort Bragg . Parachutes in Panama , 1989 . On 20 December 1989 , the 504th was again sent into battle as part of Operation Just Cause . The intent of this operation was to protect U . S . civilians in Panama , secure key facilities , neutralize both the Panamanian Defense Forces ( PDF ) and the " Dignity Battalions , " and restore the elected government of Panama by ousting General Manuel Noriega . The 3d Battalion had been prepositioned at Fort Sherman two weeks prior to the operation and was under the control of the 7th Infantry Division . The battalion conducted air and sea assaults in northern and central Panama to seize the dam that controlled the water in the Panama canal , a prison , several police stations , several key bridges , a PDF supply point , the PDF demolitions school and an intelligence training facility . The operations were designed to neutralize the PDF while protecting U . S . nationals and the canal itself during the first few hours of the battle . The 1st and 2d Battalions , 504th , along with 4th Battalion , 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion , 75th Ranger Regiment , conducted a parachute assault on the Omar Torrijos International Airport . Following the airborne assault , the paratroopers soon found themselves engaged in fierce combat in urban and rural areas . As a testament to the discipline of the soldiers , however , the unit achieved all key objectives while causing only minimal collateral damage . Devils in the desert , 1990 . On 2 August 1990 , the Iraqi Army ( the world ’ s fifth largest ) attacked Kuwait . Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division were quickly committed to Saudi Arabia and were positioned against an enemy that greatly outnumbered them . As diplomatic efforts failed , it became clear that the Iraqi Army would not withdraw . Plans were thus developed for Operation Desert Storm . President Bush ’ s warning to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait by 15 January 1991 went unheeded , and on 27 January 1991 the air war began . Allied sorties pounded the enemy for more than a month as the XVIII Airborne Corps made a rapid movement westward to position its units to roll up the flank of the multi - echeloned Iraqi defense . In a powerful offensive lasting only 100 hours , the Allied forces — with the 82d on the far western flank — crossed into Iraqi territory , devastated the Iraqi Army and captured thousands of enemy soldiers . The dangerous task of clearing countless enemy bunkers was quickly completed by the 82d troopers , and the 504th returned to Fort Bragg in April 1991 . Hurricane Andrew , 1992 . In August 1992 , 2d Battalion , 504th PIR was alerted to deploy with a task force to the hurricane - ravaged area of South Florida to provide humanitarian assistance following Hurricane Andrew . For more than thirty days , the troopers provided the citizens with food , shelter and medical attention . Operation Uphold Democracy , Haiti 1994 . Demonstrating its readiness again in September 1994 , the regiment was called upon to take part in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti . As the main effort of the 82d Airborne Division , the 504th , along with 2d Battalion , 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment , was tasked to conduct an airborne assault to seize Port - au - Prince International Airport and to secure key objectives in Port - au - Prince and the surrounding area to oust Jean Bertrand Aristide . Several months of rigorous training had been conducted prior to the invasion . Less than three hours from drop time , however , the mission was terminated , and the aircraft returned with the 82d units to Pope Air Force Base . Southwest Asia . In July 2002 , 1st Battalion , 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment deployed to Afghanistan with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . Areas of operation included Kandahar , Bagram Air Base , FOB Shkin , FOB Salerno , FOB Asadabad , and others . In January 2003 , the 2nd Battalion , 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was operating from Bagram Air Base . While the 3rd Battalion , 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was operation from Kandahar Air Base , Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . In July 2005 , the 2nd Battalion was operating in Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border . In October 2005 , 1st Battalion , 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment " Red Devils " deployed to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq in order to establish and run a maximum security detention facility for high risk detainees . In September 2005 , the 3rd Battalion was deployed to Iraq to assist in providing security for the upcoming elections . The Blue Devils operated throughout the Al Anbar Province along the Euphrates River , in or near the cities of Haqlaniyah , Ramadi and Al Qaim . After the elections were complete the battalion was attached to USASOC in what was the first ever pairing of a battalion sized infantry unit to a USASOC task force and the beginning of the " Torch Mission . " The battalion conducted combat operations in and around Ramadi in support of task force objectives . The Blue Devils redeployed to Ft Bragg in late January 2006 . 1st Battalion , with only one weeks ’ notice , deployed again in January 2007 to Baghdad as part of the surge and continued operations in Baghdad for 15 months . The 1st Brigade Combat Team ( 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment ) , 82d Airborne Division , minus the 1st Battalion , 504th PIR , deployed to Iraq in May 2007 and the Brigade ( - ) conducted operations in Southern Iraq for 14 months based out to Talil Air Base . The 2nd Battalion , 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment , initially deployed to Al Asad Airbase and conducted area security operations until January 2008 when they were tasked to replaced the Australian Battle Group . They conducted major operations in Basra and Al Amarah , Iraq until July 2008 . The entire 1st BCT , including the entire 504th Regiment , deployed again to Al Anbar Province , Iraq in August 2009 as the first Advise and Assist Brigade ( AAB ) in support of Operation New Dawn and redeployed in late July 2010 . In November 2005 2PLT A Co 2 - 504 PIR took part in Operation Sorkh Khar , which translates to " Operation Red Donkey " in the Korengal Valley . The 1st Brigade Combat Team deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 , fighting in Ghazni Province . ( The battalion was part of the 4th Brigade , temporarily activated when the 3rd Brigade was sent to Viet Nam . Units of the division ' s 4th Brigade remained in skeletal status , never being fully manned , and were inactivated upon the return of the 3rd Brigade from Viet Nam . )