A History of the 82nd Airborne During the Vietnam and the Cold War
- Jim Broumley
- Dec 4, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 9
History of the 82nd Airborne. When the 82nd Infantry Division was formed during the First World War, the unit received recruits from all over the country, earning the nickname of the “All American” division. This is represented in the double-A on the division’s shoulder patch. The 82nd was redesignated as an airborne division alongside the 101st in August 1942.
During WWII the Division conducted parachute assaults into Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and Holland. At the battle of Anzio in Italy, a German officer gave the paratroopers one of their many nicknames when he referred to them as "those devils in baggy pants." While the division is probably best known for their service in the Second World War, this video is a short history of the 82nd Airborne during the Cold War and Vietnam.
After World War Two, the All Americans moved to their permanent home of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The 82nd Airborne Division was not sent to the Korean War but instead began its use as the United States’ strategic reserve and rapid deployment force. In 1958 the US Army formed the Strategic Army Corps or STRAC. The STRAC divisions were given the mission of rapid deployment around the world on short notice. The 82nd Airborne was one of these divisions.
As U.S. troops headed for Vietnam, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne were needed to handle crises in other parts of the world. In April 1965, the United States invaded the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. They were there to prevent the overthrow of the democratically elected government by possibly communist backed rebels. The 82nd Airborne Division deployed to the Dominican Republic in support of Operation POWER PACK. The Paratroopers arrived and suppressed the communist rebellion, allowing democratic elections to continue. Unfortunately, eighteen members of the division were killed in action during this operation. Most of the Division returned home by September 1965, but the 1st Brigade stayed for another year, coming home in September of 1966.
Sadly, the 1960s was a decade marked by social strife. The 82nd Airborne Division was required to deploy to American cities to protect lives and property. In July 1967 the All Americans deployed to Detroit to assist in quelling rioting that resulted from confrontations between citizens and local police. In April 1968, the division went to Washington D.C. and Baltimore to deal with civil unrest occurring after the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King.
In January 1968, The MACV commander, General Westmoreland, requested a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division be sent at once to Vietnam in response to the Tet Offensive. Within 24 hours, the Division organized men and equipment of the 3rd Brigade, known as the Golden Brigade, and had them in route to Chu Lai to support U.S. operations there. The 3rd Brigade fought in the Hue-Phu Bai area of the I Corps area of operations. The brigade soon moved south to defend Saigon. During their time in-country the All Americans would fight battles in the Mekong Delta, the Iron Triangle, and along the Cambodian border. On April 4, 1969, at Ap Tan Hoa, Vietnam, Sergeant First Class Felix M. Conde-Falcon, while serving as an acting platoon leader, received the Medal of Honor for destroying five enemy bunkers, later identified as a communist battalion command outpost. After serving 22 months in Vietnam, the 3rd Brigade paratroopers returned to Fort Bragg in December 1969.
As the most highly trained light infantry division in the world, the 82nd Airborne has participated in practically every combat and potential combat deployment of the U.S. Army since Vietnam. This included the invasion of Grenada, Operation Urgent Fury, in 1983; a brigade task force jump into Honduras, Operation Golden Pheasant, in 1988; and the invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause, in 1989. The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 signaled the end of the Cold War.
Post Cold War, the 82nd Airborne Division participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm deploying to Saudi Arabia and then into Iraq in 1990-91, Bosnia in 1995, Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2002, and the invasion of Iraq in early 2003. The Division has been active in the Global War on Terror with elements of the Division making multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan
Today, the 82nd Airborne Division is the elite parachute unit of the U.S. Army; whose home base remains at Ft Bragg, North Carolina. They are the nation's strategic offensive force, maintaining the highest state of readiness. The Division can begin combat operations anywhere in the world within eighteen hours of notification. The 82nd Airborne Division also carries the moniker of "America's Guard of Honor." From World War Two through the Global War on Terror, generations of veterans have lived up to the Division's motto: "All the way!"
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