First in the Sky: How the 509th Parachute Infantry Battled Weather, Confusion, and Chaos in Operation Torch
When the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion lifted off from English airfields on the night of November 7–8, 1942, they were about to make history, and nearly disaster. It was the first American airborne combat operation of World War II, part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. …