3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, 1969 Vietnam Unit History, VW 9

3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, 1969 Vietnam Unit History, VW 9, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The collection is composed of one original 143-page unit history entitled Vietnam II: 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division, January 1969 to December 1969, which is the official unit's history of the service record of the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army, in Vietnam in 1969. It contains detailed units' histories, brigade operational history, military missions and campaigns participated in, and photographs and art of the unit while in Vietnam from January to December 1969. Although listed as "Volume II," it is the first unit history of the 3rd Brigade written by all of the units within the brigade, as the first volume was written and edited by two men. This is a more complete history of the 3rd Brigade told from its own perspective. This particular unit history was owned in 1969 by PFC Daniel Kennedy, who served in Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division.

The 82nd Division was constituted in the U.S. National Army on August 5, 1917, to support the United States' entry into World War I. It was organized on August 25, 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. It was during WWI that the 82nd was nicknamed "The All American' Division," which is the origin for the division's famous "double A" symbol and uniform patch.

The 82nd was one of the first seven U.S. divisions to arrive in England and fight in France in WWI. The division participated in the Battle of Lorraine 1918, and the campaigns of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne 1918. Corporal Alvin C. York was a member of this division, and would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat as one of the most decorated soldiers of WWI. The 82nd demobilized on May 27, 1919, at Camp Mills, New York, after returning home from France. It was reconstituted into the Organized Reserves as Headquarters, 82nd Division, on June 24, 1921, and housed at the Federal Building in Columbia, S.C.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the 82nd Division was re-designated on February 13, 1942, as Division Headquarters, 82nd Division. It was ordered into active service on March 25, 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, under the command of General Omar Bradley. Sergeant Alvin C. York addressed the men and inspired them to continue their history and service from World War I. General Bradley began a strict and physical training regimen, which was carried on by the next commander, Major General Matthew B. Rigdway. On August 15, 1942, the 82nd Division was reorganized and designated as the 82nd Airborne Division. The U.S. Army adopted and developed the airborne concept, and the 82nd would be the first U.S. division to receive this designation. MG Ridgway would lead the Division to North Africa in May 1943, where it intensely trained for the airborne assault onto the island of Sicily for Operation Husky.

The 82nd Airborne would participate in Operation Overland, the Allied offensive at Normandy, France. The 82nd assaulted Normandy with 12,000 parachute and glider troops on June 6, 1944. The 82nd fought for 33 days without relief or replacements, and successfully completed their mission. The final airborne assault for the 82nd Airborne Division during WWII was into Holland in September 1944 in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden. The 82nd was able to secure the Nijmegen Bridge, opening a route to the Rhine River and into Germany. The 82nd was involved in December 1944 in the Battle of the Bulge. WWII ended in May 1945, and the 82nd Airborne Division participated in occupation duty in Berlin.

Following WWII and into the early 1960s, the 82nd Airborne Division trained during the Cold War to become the nation's Strategic Reaction Force. They participated in numerous and varied exercises containing up to 60,000 men within the U.S.; the 82nd trained in Greenland, Alaska, South America, Turkey, and Africa during this period. In April 1965, 20 years after WWII, the 82nd Airborne Division deployed to support Operation Power Pack in the Dominican Republic. Most of the Division returned home by the September 1965, but the 1st Brigade stayed until September 1966.

In response to the Tet Offensive of January-February 1968 in the Republic of Vietnam, General Westmoreland, commander of the American forces in South Vietnam, requested a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division be sent immediately to support U.S. operations in the country. Within 24 hours, the 82nd Airborne Division organized men and equipment of the 3rd Brigade-known as the Golden Brigade-and had them in route to Chu Lai Air Base. After serving 22 months in Vietnam, the 3rd Brigade returned to its home base of Fort Bragg, N.C., in December 1969.

The unit history composing this collection was owned by a Private First Class Daniel Kennedy, who served as of 1969 in Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. Nothing else is known about him or his military service.

[This history of the 82nd Airborne was taken directly from the "The 82d Airborne Division: History" section of the 82d Airborne Division War Memorial Museum General Information webpage, viewed at http://www.82ndairbornedivisionmuseum.com/general-information/].

The booklet was donated to the Military Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina from a private donor in October 2017.