The 11th. (13th and 17th were deactivated at the end of WWII.)
From www.thedropzone.org , is the following history of the Division during the 1950's, after occupation in Japan...
"The division was relieved of its occupation role in early 1949 and made the move back to the United States and Camp Campbell, KY, to start an intensive training program. In the summer of 1949, they provided instructions to move than Reserve Officer Training Corps students and Reserve Officers, including the officers and men of the 100 Abn. Div. (Reserve).
In 1950, the division started concentrating on training and preparation for "Exercise Swarmer," scheduled to be held in May 1950 near Ft. Bragg, N.C. As a result of re-supply techniques learned on "Swarmer," forces in the Korean Conflict had superior re-supply methods and mobility over the enemy forces.
The 187th regimental Combat Team, formerly a part of the 11th Abn. Div., successfully completed two combat jumps in Korea, the first of which took place in the Sukchon-Sunchon area near the foothills of Pyongyang, the second was at Munsan-ni, near the 38th Parallel. Both caught the enemy by surprise and permitted the taking of objectives which would have taken weeks of slugging on foot. It also cut off and provided the capture of thousands of prisoners. Meanwhile, the remainder of the 11th Abn. at home was not idle. To fill the void of 187th overseas movement, the famous 188th Glider Infantry Regt. of the 11th Abn., in the Pacific during World War II, had been restored to the division in august 1950.
The 188th had distinguished itself in World War II as the only unit to make a glider attack in the Pacific theater in Operation Gypsy (Aparri) on Luzon in 1945. Upon its restoration to the division, the 188th was redesignated a Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Los Banos, one of the most spectacular and successful raids of World War II which liberated more than 2,147 allied prisoners from a Japanese concentration camp, was the crowning achievement of the 511th Abn. Inf. Regt., which is one of the regiments of the 11th Abn. Div..
To make the division complete, the historic and battle-tested 503rd, know as "The Rock" for its capture of Corregidor, was reactivated March 5, 1951. This was the anniversary of it original activation in 1942 at Fort Benning, Ga., and the anniversary of the surrender of Corregidor to the 503rd by the Japanese in 1945.
With the outbreak of the war in Korea, training was intensified. In the late summer months of 1950, the 11 Abn. Div. was charged with training, processing and shipment overseas of 13,000 enlisted reservists which was completed in December of the same year.
Another highlight came in March 1956, when the Division crossed the Atlantic into Europe to replace the 5th Inf. Div., in Augsburg, Germany during Operation Gyroscope. The division's nine-year tenure came to an end at Fort Campbell in July 1958, when the 11th Abn. Div. was officially inactivated.
Thank you, Mr. Jennings!
Dad was in from sometime starting in 1954 for three years. He never saw Korea, talked about Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell, and was over in Germany during his first hitch.
I asked him what he was in, besides the Airborne, and I could never retain his answer beyond "It doesn't exist anymore."
I knew somone would know! Thank you again.
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