555th Parachute Infantry Company
Triple Nickel Smoke Jumpers
Dedicated to the first black
parachute infantry
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The Original Seventeen*
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1st Assigned and Selected
1ST SGT. Walter Morris
1st to Take Qualification Jump
SSGT Calvin R. Beal
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SSGT. Hubert Bridges • SSGT. Lonnie M. Duke
SSGT. Robert F. Greene • SGT. Clarence H. Beavers
SGT. Ned D. Bess • SGT. James E. Kornegay
SGT. Leo D. Reed • SGT. Samuel W. Robinson
SGT. Jack D. Tillis • SGT. Roger S. Walden
SGT. Daniel C. Weil • SGT. Elijah Wesby
CPL. McKinley Godfrey, Jr. • CPL. Carstell O. Stewart**
TECH 4. Alvin L. Moon
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*16 Qualified on 08 Feb 1944
**On Emergency Leave, Qualified One Week Later
Placed on Army rolls
25 Feb 1943
Authorized as 555th PI Company
19 Dec 1943 - Ft. Benning, Ga.
Activated as 555th PI Battaltion
25 Nov 1944 - Camp Mackall, NC.
Redesignated as 3rd Battalion
505th Abn Infantry Regiment
and integrated
82nd Abn Division - 09 Dec 1947
Inactivated - 15 Dec 1947
Removed from Army rolls
22 Aug 1950
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"These great paratroopers walked point for their race and for our country, facing down discrimination by
Standing in the Door as one and jumping into our nation's history."
LTG David H. Petraeus
07 Sep 2006
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Significant Dates and Info
1st Trng Jump - 10 Sep 1944
1st to Die - PFC. Malvin L. Brown
1st Battalion Commander
CPT. James H. Porter
1st Black Officers Assigned and
Qualified
1st Lt. Jasper E. Ross
2nd Lt. Clifford Allen
2nd Lt. Edward Baker
2nd Lt. Bradley Biggs
2nd Lt. Warren C. Cornelius
2nd Lt. Edwin H. Wills
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"The Fire-Fly Project"
(Secret Mission)
May - Oct 1945
1st Fire Jump - 14 Jul 1945
Last Fire Jump - 10 Oct 1945
Total Fires Fought - 36
Total Individual Jumps - 1200
No Combat Jumps
Marker is on Grant Avenue near Smith Lake, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
