555th Parachute Infantry Battalion Triple Nickles Airborne Patch

The black panther crouched on top of a white parachute was the mark of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the Triple Nickles, America's first all-Black paratroop unit. The 555th Parachute Infantry Company was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia, at the end of 1943. Its enlisted cadre came from the 92nd Infantry Division, the Buffalo Soldiers, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The nickname comes from the number and from the 92nd's buffalo, with the old spelling Nickles rather than the coin.

On 25 November 1944, at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, the company became Company A of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. In the spring of 1945 the battalion moved west to Pendleton Field, Oregon, with a detachment at Chico, California. The mission was secret and went by the name Operation Firefly: recover and dispose of Japanese balloon bombs and jump on the forest fires they could start. Through the summer and fall of 1945 the men parachuted onto fires across the Northwest as smokejumpers. PFC Malvin L. Brown, a medic, was killed on a fire jump on 6 August 1945, the only man the unit lost that season.

This is a shield shaped patch with a pointed base and a white merrowed border. A black tab across the top carries "AIRBORNE" in gold block letters. Below it, on a red field, a black panther with red eyes crouches on a white canopy with its tail curled out to the right. White suspension lines run down to a black oval stitched "555", flanked by two gold leaf sprays. It measures 2.5 by 3.5 inches, a size that sits well on a vest or shoulder.

After the war the 555th went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. On 15 December 1947 the battalion was inactivated and its men went to the 3rd Battalion, 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne. In time Black paratroopers served throughout the 82nd. The Triple Nickles never jumped into combat overseas, and that was never the measure of them. They earned their wings when the Army had no place for Black paratroopers and then went out the door over burning timber across the Northwest.

Put it in a shadow box beside a set of jump wings and a photo of a father or grandfather who wore them. It also belongs on the vest of any paratrooper who knows where the 82nd's story runs through. It is a fine gift for a student of airborne history, too. The patch has an iron-on backing and can also be sewn on.