Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes today and share with my colleagues an extraordinary piece of our country's World War II and civil rights history: the story of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion--or the Triple Nickles, as they would come to be called. The 555th was officially activated in December 1943 at Fort Benning, GA, and began as a company of Black officers and enlisted men. Seventeen soldiers graduated Army jump school the following February, earning a coveted Parachutist Badge--their ``wings.'' The Army transferred the unit after several months to Camp Mackall, NC, and, in November 1944, redesignated it Company A of the newly activated 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. Although the 555th did not serve overseas during World War II, it performed an important role in defending the American homeland. In 1944 and 1945, the Japanese launched roughly 9,000 ``balloon bombs,'' explosives attached to paper balloons that rode the jetstream current across the Pacific Ocean and over the contiguous United States. One of these balloon bombs exploded in Oregon, killing a pregnant woman and five children in what historians regard as the only American World War II combat causalities to occur in the contiguous United States. The members of the 555th boarded a train westward to Oregon on a secret mission to help defend Americans living in the Pacific Northwest and the natural timber resources deemed vital to the war effort.…”