Although it is generally associated with World War II, the 89nd was actually formed in 1917. Since it had members from all 48 states (a distinction shared by no other unit) it was nicknamed the All-American Division. Supporting the French in World War I, the 82nd fought in the battles of Lorraine, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne. One of its soldiers, Sgt. Alvin York, became famous for his heroism.
Sgt. York rallied the 82nd’s members as it returned to full strength for World War II. With a new mission of paratrooping in support of land invasions, the unit was renamed the 82nd Airborne. It was airdropped into Sicily as the first wave of the attack on Axis-held Italy.
In 1944 it moved to England to train for the assault on the beaches of Normandy. Dropped from airplanes and transported by gliders, it seized critical areas behind the German beachhead and fought for 33 days without fresh supplies. It participated in Operation Market-Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, the last two steps in the defeat of Hitler’s Germany.
The 82nd assumed Cold War duties in the 1950s and 1960s, returning to combat in Indochina in 1968 when one of its three brigades defended South Vietnam. It also saw action in the 1980s invasions of Grenada and Panama.
Another of the 82nd’s components formed the first line of defense in Saudi Arabia after Iraq occupied Kuwait. Shifting to armored vehicles, the division destroyed Iraqi defense forces in 1991 and returned for the Iraq War in 2003. Elements have been deployed to Iraq and also conducted humanitarian missions after Hurricane Katrina and the major earthquake in Haiti.
