Tucker's Troopers

On June 25, 1940, just weeks after the German airborne operations in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Commandant of the Infantry School at Fort Benning received orders to form a Test Platoon. The platoon was composed of 48 enlisted men and two lieutenants who had been selected out of a group of over 200 volunteers of the 29^th Infantry Regiment. With no more than twenty-one parachutists, Warrant Officer Wilson and four riggers, the group started their training in an old iron hangar at Lawson Field, Fort Benning.[1]

First Lieutenant William E. Ryder, the commanding officer of the Test Platoon, noted in his diary on July 5^th: “Test Platoon assembled for first time. Told men it was a voluntary assignment and they could resign any time... One man backed out immediately.”[2] The next day another three men left the group as they didn’t get through the physical examination. Another four volunteers, who had initially been turned down, did pass and were added to the platoon.

Less than two weeks had passed since the first assembly of the Test Platoon when Major William C. Lee visited the group at Lawson Field and told Lieutenant Ryder that he had witnessed demonstrations at the jump towers of the New York’s World Fair at Hightstown, New Jersey. Lee worked in the Office of the Chief of Infantry and arranged the transfer of the platoon to New Jersey to use the jump towers.[3] Lieutenant Ryder recalled of the training at the towers:

 “First phase consisted of giving each man five rides with the seat parachute, same as at the World Fair. All men seemed to enjoy the ride and I saw no indication of height dizziness in any man. Got all but four men thru the second phase, which consisted of the same drop as the seat drop except that the man was placed in a harness and landed on a rubber mat.”[4]

The next day, July 30, every man made five free drops from a 125 foot tower. Next came the 250 foot towers. Ultimately in August, the Test Platoon was ready for their first jump into the wild blue yonder. On August 13 Ryder excitingly jotted down: “COMPLETED OUR FIRST NOVICE JUMPS TODAY!” Three days later 2^nd Lieutenant James A. Bassett and fifteen enlisted men were the last of the Test Platoon to make a parachute drop out of a twin-engine B-18 bomber. Lieutenant Ryder wrote about this day: “I made Lt. Bassett jump last in case any of the men might be superstitious. Thus we completed OUR FIRST TEST PLATOON PARACHUTE JUMPS!!! Tomorrow a big beer party for the men.”[5]

The members of the Test Platoon were not alone in their enthusiasm about the parachute drops they had carried out. Major Lee successfully recommended to the War Department the use of the large 250-foot towers from the New York’s fair and two were purchased and set up at Fort Benning, not far from Lawson Field. The War Department also directed that for further parachute drops the men were not allowed to jump below the altitude of 750 feet.[6]

The 501^st Parachute Battalion was activated on September 6, 1940 under the command of Major William W. Miley at Fort Benning, Georgia. The Test Platoon was used to cadre the battalion and 1^st Lieutenant Ryder was promoted to captain. Second lieutenant Bassett could change the golden second lieutenant bars on his uniforms for silver-colored first lieutenant bars. Months passed by while the 501^st Parachute Battalion continued training and by early 1941 it was considered advanced in its training.

At the War Department, plans were drawn to expand the parachute forces with three more battalions before the end of 1941. To supervise the build-up and training of these four battalions, the Provisional Parachute Group Headquarters was activated in early March of 1941. Lieutenant Colonel William Lee, who had arranged the purchase of the two jump towers earlier, was placed in command. Lee was also supposed to develop a tactical doctrine for the parachute troops, to prepare a study of permanent Tables of Organization and Basic Allowances and to write training manuals.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee set up his headquarters in Fort Benning as he was operating under the control of the Chief of Infantry. His first major task, besides choosing his staff, was to provide a cadre for the 502^nd Parachute Infantry Battalion which had to be activated on July 1, 1941. As the 501^st Parachute Infantry Battalion provided the majority of the cadre, it also needed new paratroopers to replace them. But where could Lee get so many men?

After conferring with the Office of the Chief of Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Lee was allowed to visit the 8^th and 9^th Infantry Divisions at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Fort Benning, Georgia to find the desired quota of men. The 8^th Infantry Division provided only a few dozen while the 9^th Infantry Division contained 1,000 enthusiastic volunteers. Only about 200 were needed, but the other men were turned out for the time being. The activation of the 503^rd and 504^th Parachute Infantry Battalions would require more men anyway.[7]

Among the group of volunteers in July 1941, was a thirty-seven-year-old major from a tank battalion in Texas. Major Theodore L. Dunn was born on February 25, 1904 in Meridian, Mississippi. He grew up with heroic stories about the Confederate Army in the Civil War and was so adamant in his loyalty as a Southerner that he was always prepared to make a stand when the role of the South in the Civil War was mentioned. He also never used the word “Sir” but instead said “Suh.”

Dunn graduated from West Point in 1925 and married in 1929. That same year he was sent overseas to the Philippines to serve in the 45^th Infantry. They settled down in Gumaca, where Dunn was commanding a unit consisting entirely of Philippine soldiers. Three years later, the couple returned to the States to attend a course at the Tank School. Dunn was then assigned to the 66^th Infantry and in early 1937 to the 114^th Infantry in Panama. That same year a son was born.

The year 1939 brought a reassignment to the 7^th Tank Company at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. A year later he was again transferred, this time as a major, to a tank battalion in Brownwood, Texas.[8] Dunn found it the right time to try something new when he heard about the paratroops. He volunteered in July 1941 and qualified the next September. He was soon assigned to the Provisional Parachute Group Headquarters.

Another volunteer who qualified in the summer of 1941 was Private Lewis P. Fern. Born in New York in 1918, Fern had joined the army on the 12^th of March 1941. He was selected to be Lieutenant Colonel Lee’s runner upon his qualification as a paratrooper and served a few weeks in the 501^st Parachute Battalion.

 The 504^th Parachute Battalion was activated on October 5, 1941 under the command of Major Richard Chase. He had been an original member of the 501^st Parachute Battalion and had joined the service in 1937 upon graduating from the Syracuse Commerce University. Chase’s Battalion S-3 Officer responsible for planning and operations, was Captain Reuben H. Tucker from Ansonia, Connecticut. Tucker came from the 502^nd Parachute Battalion where he had commanded Company B.

The training of the individual paratroopers for the four parachute battalions emphasized callisthenics, long marches, a three-mile run daily, scouting and patrolling, map reading and qualification on all the weapons that were transported by air. The use of compass was also important as it was expected that paratroopers would need extra help to orientate themselves after a drop. Next came the parachute maintenance training which included packing parachutes and jump training. Jump graduates were awarded silver plated ‘jump wings’ – a parachute qualification badge designed by Captain William P. Yarborough, a company commander of the 501^st Parachute Battalion.

Once assigned to one of the battalions of the Provision Parachute Group, the training was divided into two subsequent phases. First of all, training was on squad, platoon and company size to blend the individual troopers into a cohesive unit. This phase included exercises both day and night, including more jumps. The troopers also spent considerable time on the rifle range to qualify their marksmanship for a number of weapons. This phase lasted fourteen weeks. The second phase involved battalion level training on tactical basis and lasted two weeks.[9]

Private Carl Mauro from East Rochester, New York was one of the enlisted men who went through this training schedule. He had enlisted on July 9, 1941 and had completed basic infantry training at Camp Croft, South Carolina a mere six weeks later:

“With one other volunteer from our Camp Croft company, we arrived at the Parachute School on Lawson Field on October 3, 1941 for paratrooper training. We engaged in a very strenuous physical training course and learned the technique of jumping with a heavy load, from ‘mock-up’ (‘dummies’) and live planes. I was a private in Company C of the new 504^th Parachute Battalion and a member of class number 7 at the school. We were in at the very beginning of parachute jump training.

In December, while in training, I was promoted to private first class because of my attitude toward work in our company. This first ranking raised my salary $6 additional each month. (....) There was some delay in our jumping-from-the-plane schedule because C-47s were not always available at that time. We did make our five jumps and received our ‘wings’ on February 2, 1942 which ended the ‘jump’ training session.”[10]