During the historic Knollwood Maneuevers held in December of 1943, the 11th Airborne troopers remember being "surrounded by brass". Some of the top officers watching (or taking part in) the maneuevers were pictured here.
Left to Right:
General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Chief, USAAF; MG Matthew B. Ridgway, CG, 82nd Airborne Division; MG Joseph M. Swing, CG, 11th A/D; MG William C. Lee, CG, 101st A/D; MG William M. Miley, CG, 17th A/D; and MG Elbridge G. Chapman, CG, 13th A/D.
After the exercises, commander of Army Ground Forces LTG Lesley McNair sent MG Swing a note, stating that the Angels had corrected America's leaderships’ negative assessments of large-scale airborne operations. He said, "The successful performance of your division has convinced me that we were wrong, and I shall now recommend that we continue our present schedule of activating, training, and committing airborne divisions."
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GeneralJosephMaySwing
11thAB'sfirstdivisionalreview
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PrivateJohnTommyMackall
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CampMackallrenamingwithMrs.Mackall
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2ndBattalionofficers,511thPIR
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TheGeneral'sWalk
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W.Walter,V.Howley,P.Kut
1LTAndrewCarrico'swedding
1LTAndrewCarricoDCompany
W.Walter,G.WhiteandR.Goff
SSGTGeorgeSharpHQ2
PFCRichardGoffDCompany
SSGTMurrayPerlmanDCompany
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DCompany511thPIR
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CorporalWilliamR.WalterDCompany
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PFCCharlieJonesDCompany
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SGTJamesA.StottDCompany
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Unknown 511th PIR troopers
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Unknown 511th PIR trooper
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Unknown 511th PIR troopers
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Unknown 511th PIR troopers
511thPIRPracticeJumpCampMackall
511th PIR Practice Jump Camp Mackall
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11th Airborne Glider Troops at Camp Mackall
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D-457th PFAB at Camp Mackall
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511th PIR troopers in the air
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511th PIR Trooper in a Tree
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511th PIR Trooper in the water
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511th PIR Trooper on the ground
511thPIRtrooperontheground
511th PIR trooper on the ground
The boys of the 511th PIR enjoyed Camp Mackall's superior facilities when not out on several-day bivouacs or long marches. Out of 12,000 volunteers, only 2,176 remained, having passed (i.e. survived) Colonel Orin Haugen's strict acceptance guidelines. At Mackall the soldiers practiced field problems and got to know the other units in their mother organization, the 11th Airborne Division under Major-General Joseph May Swing.
