It was my undestanding that he was originally assigned to and trained with the Big Red One in Fort Benning Georgia. That paratroop unit was his original unit and I assumed that it was part of the Big Red One. My father was very proud of being a member of the paratroopers as well he should have been. He broke both ankles in a training accident when something on one of the rigs that they used to simulate jumps on the ground broke, this caused him to have to transfer to air corp where he spent the duration as a turret gunner on B-24's where he flew missions while being stationed first in North Africa, then Sicily, and Italy.
My father was very proud of making that paratroop unit as there were a lot of soldiers who wanted to be in the unit but could not pass the rigid physical tests required. He always fondly spoke of training with the Big Red One at Fort Benning, Georgia.
That is probably an accurate statement that he did train with the Big Red One and I was in error saying that he served in the Big Red One. I should have said the he served with or trained with the Big Red One.
I appreciate that you read this forum close enough to question any fact that may be in error. It keeps people honest and accurate. I am honest and I always intend to be accurate, but like most people I miss that mark too often.
During the First World War (WWI), Billy Mitchell proposed to have the 1st Division in the Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France conduct a combat parachute drop. The plan was aborted.
The 1st Division was stationed at Fort Benning only two times during the Second World War (WWII), both occasions being relatively brief. The first occasion was before the Japanese attack on Pealr Harbor and before the first paratroop unit, the 1st paratroop Test Platoon, was organized. The second occasion was a very brief one month period shortly after the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor and redesignation as the 1st Infantry Division, after which the division moved to its embarkation port to be stationed in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Paratroopers and paratrooper units were not components of the 1t Infantry Division, and there do not appear to be any instances in which a paratroop unit was attached to the 1st Infantry Division in training or in combat operations.
The paratrooper training at Fort Benning was conducted by the Parachute Test Platoon or 1st parachute Test Platoon and successors such as the 1st Parachute Training Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. Their first volunteers were recruited from the 29th Infantry Regiment, a training unit responsible for building Fort Benning in the interwar period.
The above circumstances are the reason why it is curiously unusual to see it said that a member of the “Big Red One” was involved in paratrooper training in the Second World War at Fort Benning. It would make sense if it were the 101st Airborne Division, but the 1st Infantry Division wasn't even present at Fort Benning during the paratrooper training other than a few weeks in April to May 1942. Even in that brief month long period, there were no parachute units in the 1st Infantry Division, and the Fort Benning parachute training units were not components or attached units of the 1st Infantry Division.
Given the 1st Division's abortive role in the history of paratroopers in the First World War, the suggestion of any role in the Second World War would be noteworthy, if it could be confirmed.