5 October 1941: Unit activated at Fort Benning, Georgia.

February 1942: The 504th moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for training and became part of one of the Army's first Parachute Infantry Regiments. The 503rd and 504th Parachute Infantry Battalions were joined together to form the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, with the 504th being renamed Company D, 503rd Parachute Infantry on 24 February 1942.

June 1942: As an independent battalion, the 503rd sailed to Scotland becoming the first American parachute unit to go overseas in World War Two. It was attached to the British 1st Airborne Division for training, which included the lowest altitude mass parachute jump in history, exiting the aircraft at 143 feet.

2 November 1942: As the 503rd was staging for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, it was reorganized and re-designated Company D, 509th Parachute Infantry.

8 November 1942: Operation Torch
The 509th spearheaded the Allied invasion of North Africa with the longest Airborne operation. 556 paratroopers of the 509th, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edson Duncan Raff, took off from England to jump into French Northwest Africa in the initial step to liberate Europe from German occupation. After a C-47 flight of over 1600 miles from England, the battalion seized Tafarquay Airport in Oran, Algeria by parachute assault.

15 November 1942: Operation Torch
One week later, after repacking their own chutes the battalion conducted their second combat jump to secure the airfield at Youk-Les-Bains near the Tunisian border. In spite of the injuries sustained on his earlier jump, Lieutenant Colonel Raff, the 509th Battalion Commander, led this mission as well. From this base the battalion conducted combined operations with various French forces against the German Afrika Korps in Tunisia. One unit, the 3rd Regiment of Zouaves (French Algerian Infantry), awarded their own Regimental Crest as a gesture of respect to the American Paratroopers. This badge was awarded to the battalion commander on 15 November 1942 by the 3rd Zouaves' Regimental Commander, and is worn today by all members of the 509th Infantry.

26 December 1942: El Djem
After several attempts by the air corps to destroy the rail bridge in El Djem by the air, the 509th was handed an impossible mission of destroying the bridge critical to the German supply line. Some were opposed to the suicide mission, especially Colonel Raff. But on the night of December 26th thirty-six 509 paratroopers took off in 3 C-47’s for the nearly hopeless goal. After a precarious drop with missing men and critical equipment, the remaining men conducted gorilla warfare attacks over a period of two weeks on German forces in the area and eventually returned back to Allied lines with only 7 survivors.

December 1942 to June 1943: the 509th trained in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. During the invasion of Sicily, the 509th was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, but was held in division reserve and saw no action in that campaign.

September 1943: Operation Avalanche
The invasion of Italy began with the amphibious assault at Salerno. The 509th was initially in reserve with the 82nd Airborne Division in Sicily until the beachhead was in danger. While the 82nd dropped inside American lines to reinforce the beachhead, the 509th was assigned the mission of cutting enemy supply lines behind the German defensive positions. The 509th launched its third parachute assault at Avellino, Italy, only to find the DZ occupied the night before by the 6th German Armored Panzer Division. The 509th operated independently for some two weeks behind German lines in company and platoon size elements disrupting the German rear area. Separate units scrounged for food and water among the Italian civilians until the unit finally reassembled in Salerno on 28 September 1943. Total casualties were 123 killed or captured including the 509th commander and his entire staff.

10 December 1943: The battalion was reorganized and re-designated as Company A, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, and recognized as an independent unit. During this period, October through December 1943, the battalion operated with Darby' s Rangers, and fought as Mountain Infantry in the high ground above Venafro, Italy.

21 January 1944: The 509th's next operation was an amphibious assault (represented by the fifth arrowhead on the unit crest) at Anzio, Italy. Still operating with Darby's Rangers, the 509th was in the first assault wave of the invasion force. The Rangers sent two battalions against an elite German Armored Division on the beachhead, while the 509th was assigned a critical defensive position, which they held despite heavy losses. For its heroic actions in stopping the desperate German counterattack at Carano, Italy, the 509th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the first parachute unit so honored. In addition to the battalion award of 29 February, Charlie Company won a second Presidential Unit Citation for a night attack on 14 March, and Corporal Paul B. Huff became the first paratrooper to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

15 August 1944: Operation Dragoon
After Anzio, the 509th conducted its fourth parachute assault and fifth combat assault spearheading the attack by the First Airborne Task Force at Le Muy, in southern France (also known as the Champaign Campaign).

December 1944: The 509th was attached to the 101st Airborne Division in time for the Battle of the Bulge. In another defensive mission, against incredible odds, the 509th held out from 22 to 30 December at Sadzot, Belgium, against two Panzer Grenadier Battalions, both elite German mechanized infantry units, and earned the battalion its second Presidential Unit Citation.

January 1944: Tasked with an offensive mission, the 509th advanced in the hills of St. Vith, Belgium, capturing and holding critical high ground for the passage of the 7th Armored Division. After the action, which left only seven officers and forty-eight enlisted men in the entire battalion of over 700, the 509th fell victim to reorganization again.

1 March 1945: Toward the end of World War Two, separate Parachute Infantry Battalions were no longer considered necessary, and the 509th was disbanded with the survivors and returning wounded being sent to the 82nd or 13th Airborne Divisions as replacements.

12 May 1947: The 509th was later reconstituted in the Regular Army as Company A, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, and redesignated on 27 March 1963 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry, with subsequent assignment to the 8th Infantry Division. The 509th was reactivated in Mainz, Germany, as two battalions, then later reduced to one battalion during the summer of 1973.

1 September 1973: The 509th was relieved from assignment to the 8th Army and subsequently moved to Vicenza, Italy and stationed at Caserma Ederle. In 1975, one company of the 509th moved to the continental United States to fill the requirement for a company sized Airborne/ Pathfinder unit to support the United States Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

The redesignation of the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Italy as the 4th Battalion, 325th Infantry in July 1983 left C Company, 509th Infantry (Airborne/Pathfinder) as the only remaining unit of the Regiment.

18 December 1987: the Headquarters for the 509th was transferred to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command and organized at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas.

A Company, B Company, and D Troop were formed and initially served at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas as the opposing forces for the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center.

22 August 1990: Five members of C Co (Pathfinders) stationed at Ft Rucker, Alabama were selected to go to the Persian Gulf War attached to the 18th Airborne Corp, 101st Airborne Div (Air Assault). Their mission was to search and rescue down pilots, sling load operations, and (SFARP) Set up Forward Arming and Refueling Points. For this deployment they received the Valorous Unit Award. During a search and rescue mission with 3 509ers aboard, their helicopter was shot down. Two were KIA and one became a POW.

1993: The 509th was transferred to the U.S. Army Forces Command and subsequently moved to Fort Polk, Louisiana, where it serves today as the world's premier opposing force for light infantry and Special Operations Forces.

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509 Highlights and Honors
First U. S. Airborne unit to deploy overseas, arriving in Land's End, England on 10 June 1942.

Executed the lowest altitude mass parachute jump in history exiting the aircraft at 143 feet in England during June 1942 rehearsals.

Initially awarded the right to wear Red Berets by Major General Sir Frederick A.M. Browning, Commander, 1st British Airborne, who made the 509th honorary "Red Devils." The 509th became the first American military outfit to wear a beret.

Performed America's first combat parachute insertion on 8 November 1942 following the longest combat invasion in history of 1600 miles from England to North Africa.

Conducted five combat jumps during World War II: three into North Africa, one into Italy and one into Southern France.

The first paratrooper unit to spearhead an amphibious invasion at Anzio, Italy on 22 January 1944 with Darby's Rangers, and subsequently participated in a successful Allied campaign that lasted 70 days.

First Airborne unit awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, 29 February 1942.
Also awarded another Presidential Unit Citation in 1945.

Paul B. Huff, a member of the 509th, was the first American Paratrooper awarded the Medal of Honor on 29 February 1944 at Anzio, Italy.

Participated in the Battle of the Bulge.

Most decorated Parachute Battalion of World War II