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11th Division
Opens Fifth
Jump School
Fort Campbell May 14—(Special)—Jump School reopened today at Fort Campbell.
And over 2000 parachute volunteers of the l11h Airborne Division now have a chance to earn wings at their home station.
The school has been reactivated to accommodate a back-log of airborne volunteers who has been awaiting training. Present plans are to discontinue operations after eight classes have been graduated. The Division will continue to send a regular quota of men for jump !training at the Airborne School of the Infantry Center, Fort Benning, Ga.
This is the fifth time the 11th Airborne Division has operated its own jump school. The first one was opened in 1944 at Oro Bay, New Guinea. Following the Leyte and Luzon campaigns the second school was set up in the Philippine Islands where it was operated until August 1945 when the Division moved to Japan.
The Division operated a jump school almost the entire time it was on occupation duty. The school opened at Yanome, Japan in November 1945 and in 1946 was moved to Yamoto, Japan where it remained until 1949 when the Division returned to the States. At Fort Campbell a jump school was opened in July of last year and discontinued the following month.
Capt Peter L Kelley, until recently Division G-3 Air and Division Airborne
Officer, has been selected as commandant of the new school. Capt Kelley is a
master parachutist and a veteran of over 125 jumps.
He served with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division
in Europe |
during World War
II and participated in the airborne assaults of Normandy and
Holland. From 1946 until 1948 he was an instructor at the
Airborne School at Fort Benning. He then joined the 11th
Airborne Division and was with the jump school in Japan until
1949. Capt Kelley commanded Company "A' of the 511th AIR and
served as !battalion executive officer and !later as regimental
S-3 in 1950. He was operations officer and then executive
officer of the Jump School operated at Fort Campbell last
summer.
The assistant commandant of the School is Capt Benjamin H. Hill who was also with the Jump School here last summer Capt Hill a
master parachutist has a total of 1110 lumps to his credit He served with the 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in Europe during World War II and participated in the airborne assault of Holland. From 1946 until 1950 he served with the 511th AIR as a company commander/ He was in charge of the jump committee last summer and was later
commandant of the Division Jumpmaster course. His last assignment was as assistant S-3, 3rd Battalion, 503rd AIR.
The adjutant of the school is 1st Lt. Sherman F Carter, 511th Airborne Infantry Regiment. The operations officer is Capt George Hills of the 675th
Airborne Field Artillery Battalion who is a senior parachutist. Phase Leader of the Ground Training Phase is Capt Elmer G Sprague, 503rd AIR. The General Subjects Phase is under Capt Eleazar Farmly III, 511th AIR and the Novice Jump Phase is under Capt Richard M Kinney, 503rd AIR. Sergeant major of the school Is MSgt Donald Gross, former first sergeant of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 503rd.
The course of training given here will be of three weeks duration and similar to that given at Fort Benning. The first class which started today will be followed by a new class each week for the next seven weeks
[Nashville Banner, Nashville, TN, 14 May 1951, Mon, Page 3 ] |
COMPLETES SCHOOL ...
Pfc Ralph McQuinn, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Maurice McQuinn, 1017 39th St., has completed the 11th airborne
Division Jump School. McQuinn attended Jordan High school
and ids assigned to the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team.
[Columbus Daily Enquirer, May 20, 1955, Page
2]
PVT MILFORD J. ROGERS,
son of Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Seitz, of RR 1
Elberfield, recently completed class 40 of the 11th Airborne
Division Jump School at Ft. Campbell, Ky. He is assigned
to Headquarters and Headquarters Companby of the 508th "Red
Devil" Airborne Regimental Combat Team.
[Evansville Press, Evansville, IL, 10 March 1955, Page 2] |
