Army first began asking for volunteers for airborne units, African-American soldiers were sent to the racially segregated 555th. Members of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion “triple nickel” are briefed before takeoff from Fort Dix, N.J. As the Army was still racially segregated, white soldiers went to jump school at Fort Benning, while African-American soldiers went to the 555th Airborne Infantry Battalion, the “triple nickel” unit, at Fort Bragg, N.C. In 1946, the Army began asking for volunteers for airborne units. Even in 1943, when pay went up to $50 a month for a private, receiving an extra $50 jump pay meant double pay. This was a significant amount of money, since a private (E-1) made $21 a month in 1942. The parachutist badge first appears in Army regulations as authorized for wear in November 1941.ĭuring World War II, airborne-qualified officers received $100 per month and enlisted paratroopers $50 in incentive pay. In later years, Yarborough (1912-2005) reached three-star rank and was a key figure in the Army’s Special Forces, or Green Berets.
To prevent unauthorized copying of the badge, Yarborough also obtained a patent for the design of the badge, number 134,963, on Feb. Yarborough “then went to Bailey, Banks, and Biddle, the Philadelphia jeweler, which made the first 350 parachutist badges.” The badges were then produced in record time: the commander of the 501st Parachute Battalion had them in hand less than a week later. He “sketched a design that was formally approved by the War Department on March 10, 1941,” Emerson said.
Emerson, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and expert on badges and insignia, the idea for the parachutist badge came from then-Capt. Army airborne parachutist badge is unchanged since its creation in 1941.
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