509th Infantry Regiment (United States) - Post-WWII

Post-WWII

After World War II, the colors of the 509th remained inactive until 1963, when Co A, 509PIB was reactivated as HHC, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry, and Co B, 509PIB was reactivated as HHC, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry.

Since 1958 the 8th Infantry Division in Germany had had an Airborne component consisting of the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 504th Infantry, and the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 505th Infantry, as well as other supporting elements on jump status. When the division reorganized from the Pentomic structure to the new structure using brigades and battalions, 1-504th and 1-505th were replaced by 1-509th and 2-509th, respectively, located at Lee Barracks in Mainz-Gonsenheim, Germany. These two battalions formed the infantry component of the 1st Brigade (Airborne), 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Other units of the brigade included the 5th Battalion (Airborne), 81st Artillery; Troop A (Airborne), 3rd Squadron, 8th Cavalry; and Company A (Airborne), 12th Engineer Battalion.

In 1973, as the division's 1st Brigade jump status was ending, a new unit with the designation of 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry (bearing the lineage of WW II's Co C, 509PIB) was activated to form an Airborne battalion combat team (ABCT) from elements of the existing Airborne forces within the brigade. After a brief training period at Rhine Kaserne barracks in West Germany, the unit moved to Vicenza, Italy, as a separate Airborne Battalion Combat Team and composed of a headquarters and headquarters company (HHC), a combat support company (CSC), three light infantry companies and one 105 mm towed field artillery battery, commanded by LTC Ward M. Lehardy. The colors of 1-509th and 2-509th were reflagged as 2-28th and 2-87th. Shortly after its arrival in Italy, 3-509th was reflagged as 1-509th.

On 1 July 1975 the lineage of Co C, 509PIB was reactivated at Fort Rucker as the separate Co C (Pathfinder), 509th Infantry. The company was created by reflagging the existing 5th Infantry Detachment (Pathfinder), which had served at the post since 24 June 1963. (A pathfinder presence at Fort Rucker can be traced back to about 1960 with the activation of the Pathfinder Team, Company A, 2nd Battle Group, 31st Infantry, to support the Aviation Center.) Contrary to some erroneous accounts, C-509th was not created by transferring C-1-509th from Italy to Fort Rucker. There had already been a pathfinder presence at Fort Rucker for 15 years. Even if the 5th Infantry Detachment had not existed, the Army would not have reduced the strength of its only forward-deployed Airborne battalion in Europe when sufficient manning was available in CONUS. Additionally, the organization and manning of a line Airborne infantry company is different from that of a pathfinder company conducting training support.

The size of C-509th varied depending upon funding and mission requirements. For example, documents on file at the United States Army Center of Military History in Washington, DC, indicate that when the company was activated in 1975 by replacing the 5th Infantry Detachment, it was authorized 4 officers and 108 enlisted soldiers. Documents dated 22 September 1987 show the unit as still having 4 officers authorized but only 77 enlisted soldiers.

In 1983, 1-509th in Italy was reflagged as 4-325th to align it with elements of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg under an Army-wide combat arms battalion rotation program.

The lineage of 1-509th was reactivated provisionally in 1987 to serve as the OPFOR at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. The unit was activated at Little Rock Air Force Base in a formal ceremony on May 21, 1988. The unit was stationed at LRAFB because it provided modern quarters and facilities that Ft. Chaffee lacked, and deployed on a per-rotation basis to Ft. Chaffee. The unit served and serves as the opposing force for American and Allied light infantry. In June 1993, 1-509th moved along with the Joint Readiness Training Center to Fort Polk, Louisiana. After moving to Fort Polk, 1/509 Abn has become the elite urban fighting training unit that it has been over the years in guerilla warfare.

On 31 May 1993, the separate C-509th at Fort Rucker was reflagged as A-511th, reactivating the colors of a unit that had served with the long-inactive 11th Airborne Division and the short-lived (1963–65) 11th Air Assault Division (Test). The era of a pathfinder unit at Fort Rucker ended on 31 October 1995 when A-511th was inactivated to meet budget cut ceilings.

In May 2004 Alpha and Bravo companies of the 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry at Fort Polk deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. In Iraq they conducted combat patrols in and around the Baghdad area. Alpha and Bravo companies returned in March 2005. During the deployment, Delta Troop and HHC continued to support JRTC exercises.