Most men of the 504 were reluctant to leave their new-found home in Sicily; grapes were ripe for one thing, the language was much easier than the thousand and one Arab dialects encountered in Africa, and then the Sicilians, who were firmly convinced that their homeland was now an "American Island", were quite willing to show their new bosses a good time.

An order from Fifth Army headquarters, however, returned the regiment to Kairouan, North Africa, where it became immediately evident that another parachute mission was in the wind. Replacements were absorbed by the companies, training was resumed, and the 3rd Battalion was once again detached from the regiment - this time they were sent to Bizerte for special beach assault training with the Rangers and the 325th Glider Infantry.

Orders soon came for the 504 to return to Sicily; a more suitable jumping-off place for the invasion of Italy. They again boarded planes in Africa and flew, this time undisturbed by enemy and friendly flak, to Comiso, and Trapani, Sicily.

Weeks of preparation for a jump at Capua, briefings, tiny scale models of the proposed drop zone expertly carved by former German toy makers - were forgotten. The mission to Capua had been cancelled; the enemy had been warned and was waiting on the DZ.

Then there was the mission where men of the regiment were to jump on Rome, and with the help of Italian partisans, occupy the city. That, too, had been cancelled - and only three minutes before the scheduled take-off. 504 men were disgusted at the time, but subsequently felt differently when they learned the full story of General Taylor's negotiations with Marshal Badoglio in Rome, and of his resultant decision to stop the 504 from jumping into what his eleventh hour information disclosed to be a trap.

The 3rd Battalion then moved to Licata and rejoined the 325th and the Rangers. Here they boarded LCIs and set out to sea; they knew they were going to Italy, but other than that, information was vague. H Company's boats left the convoy, and on September 9, with a group of Rangers, made the initial landings on the Italian coast at Maiori. Opposition on the beach was slight, and the parachutists quickly advanced into the mountains overlooking the coast where they captured the now famous Chiunzi Pass and a vital railroad tunnel.

G, Headquarters, and I Companies, with the remainder of the 325th Combat Team, swerved south and on September 11, landed on the bloody Salerno beach. The Luftwaffe and the American and British Air Forces provided an overhead show that ran 24 hours a day. That the military situation at Salerno was not as it should have been became more evident with each passing hour; German tanks and strong infantry forces were pressing relentlessly toward the beach, and the word was passed around that it would be fight or swim. No paratrooper on that beach was in the mood for a twelve-mile swim, and with the prospects of a last-ditch stand staring them in the face, men of the 3rd Battalion settled down and awaited developments.

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