541st Parachute Infantry Regiment (United States) - The 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment Is Born

The 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment Is Born

The 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated August 12, 1943 at Fort Benning, Georgia, under the command of Colonel Ducat M. McEntee and his Executive Officer Major Harley N. Trice. The unit was filled with men who had already completed Basic and Infantry Training, but were yet to complete Jump School. The men who filled out the unis ranks of a high fibre, all had scored exceptionally well on their Army Entrance Exams; all were volunteers. One of the original members of the unit was famed 101st Airborne author Donald R. Burgett, who later participated in all the World War II battles of A Company 506th Parachute Infantry. Pvt. Burgett's first impressions of the 541st were to meet the Parachute School instructors who would take them through the four week program, after a five-mile run and a full morning of calisthenics, men were already beginning to fall out. The Regiment was taking form and only the determined would survive! Any man who quit was immediately removed and banished to the Military Police, a fate deemed shameful to a paratrooper who considered their duty to challenge the authority of the MPs every chance they got. The men completed Jump School as a unit, but not without casualties. One planeload of prospective paratroopers crashed in a ball of fire, killing all on board. Others, Pvt Burgett included suffered Jump Injuries, which put a halt to their training until they were well enough to continue, after which they would catch up with the unit, which moved out to Camp Mackall upon completing the Parachute School.