Statistics:
Purple
Heart Medals 1548
Combat Infantryman Badges 3,785
Combat Medic Badges 191
Total Awards 5,524
This book has 162 pages
ISBN 978-1-932891-35-5
ISBN 1-932891-35-8
Library of Congress
Control Number 2004-559406
The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment was assigned to the
82nd Airborne Division
WWII Campaigns
Sicily
Naples-Foggia
Normandy
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe
This is the second in a series of indexes of all infantry regiments and independent infantry battalions of the US Army in WWII. Others will be published as they are completed.
This work includes all decorations cited in the general orders of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.* Please note that some decorations to members of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment may have been cited in general orders of other commands. This index lists all members of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments that were awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medic Badge by the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Combat Infantryman Badges and Combat Medic Badges are important, since the recipients of these badges were retroactively entitled to a Bronze Star Medal; under Change 13 to Army Regulation 600-45, Department of the Army, 4 November 1947. I have made no attempt to list the Unit Awards, awards of specific Battle Stars, and Good Conduct Medals.
According to the wording of the Army Regulation, the Combat Medic’s Badge was only to be awarded to medics assigned to infantry units. It seems, however, that they were awarded to medics of other units that were attached to the 505th Parachute Infantry as well. There are awards of the Combat Medic Badge to members of a medical collecting company and medics of the 307th Airborne Engineer Combat Battalion announced in the 505th Parachute Infantry’s General Orders.
There are many instances of the same soldier being awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge more than once. I can only assume these instances were due to administrative oversights. Also, many soldiers also have more general orders awarding them the Purple Heart Medal than Oak Leaf Clusters. In these instances I would recommend reviewing each general order and checking the dates of the wounds cited. If the dates are all different then the solider is entitled to more Oak Leaf Clusters than what was published in the general orders, otherwise these are also administrative mistakes.
Many low point airborne troops and troops who re-enlisted from other airborne units served in the 82nd Airborne Division after VE Day. This was due to the 82nd Airborne Division being the last Airborne Division to leave occupied Germany. Because of this, some of the awards cited in later general orders of 1945 may be to men who actually served with another unit in combat. I have noted some instances of this in the text, This is when; the men were wounded or received their Combat Infantryman Badge for a campaign in which the 505th Parachute Infantry did not participate. I have no way to identify, at this time, men who did serve in a different unit in combat, but were cited for a campaign in which the 505th Parachute Infantry participated.
How to read the sources: (GO#12,1945,505PIR) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 12, 1945), “505PIR” (505th Parachute Infantry Regiment).
* Missing General Orders
(GO#1,1944,505PIR) (GO#2,1944,505PIR)
Every effort has been made to minimize errors and misspelled names. An error may be attributable to the source document, or may have occurred while transcribing the names/units. Some of the original documents are of very poor print quality, making them difficult to decipher.