The Airborne pioneers:
World war 2 started with the invasion of Poland by the German army. Soon, the world witnessed an attack carried out by airborne troops. Germany showed the world, by invading the Low Countries on May 10 1940, that airborne troops could be successful. Because of these airborne landings, the War Department in Washington decided to experiment with airborne troops.
On June 25 1940 the War department sent out an order that a test platoon would be created at Fort Benning, Georgia. The test platoon was composed of 46 enlisted men and 2 officers. The group originated from the 29th infantry regiment. The 48 men for the test platoon were extracted from a group of 200 volunteers. They started training on Lawson field, Fort Benning.
The commanding officer of the test platoon was William E. Ryder. The men of the platoon were all volunteers and knew the risks of jumping from an airplane with a parachute. They were allowed to resign at any time during the course. Four men left the platoon immediately, one because he was afraid and the other because they didn’t meet the physical requirements for jumping out of an airplane. Four new men were added to the platoon.
