HISTORY
The 101st Airborne Division was initially formed as part of the National Army on July 23, 1918, but it wasn't until November 2 that it was organized at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Nine days later, World War I ended, and the unit demobilized on 11 December 1918.
In 1921, the division headquarters was reconstituted in the Organized Reserves and organized on September 10, 1921, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was when the nickname "Screaming Eagles" was given to the division, honoring the traditions of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and their mascot Old Abe.
The 101st Airborne Division, as a reserve unit, was disbanded on August 15, 1942, and then reactivated as part of the United States Army the following day, on August 16, 1942, now commemorated as National Airborne Day.
On August 19, 1942, Major General William C. Lee, the division’s first commander, declared by General Order:
The 101st Airborne Division, which was activated on August 16, 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny.
Due to the nature of our armament and the tactics in which we shall perfect ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching military importance, and we shall habitually go into action when the need is immediate and extreme. Let me call your attention to the fact that our badge is the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies.
The history we shall make, the record of high achievement we hope to write in the annals of the American Army and the American people, depends wholly and completely on the men of this division. Each individual, each officer, and each enlisted man must therefore regard himself as a necessary part of a complex and powerful instrument for the overcoming of the enemies of the nation. Each, in his own job, must realize that he is not only a means, but an indispensable means for obtaining the goal of victory.
It is, therefore, not too much to say that the future itself, in whose molding we expect to have our share, is in the hands of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.
The 101st Airborne Division would go on to become one of the most recognized and famous units of the United States Army and military forces in the world.
In World War II, the Screaming Eagles participated in Operation Overlord in Normandy, Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, and the Liberation of Kaufering in Germany.
The division was then inactivated on November 30, 1945, following the end of the war.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower visits the 101st Airborne on June 5, 1944—photo courtesy US Army Signal Corps.
From June 1948 to May 1954, the 101st Airborne Division underwent several activations and deactivations before being officially activated as a combat division in the United States Army, with headquarters at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, by April 1957.
The Screaming Eagles would eventually deploy to Vietnam on July 19, 1965, and be engaged in combat around Laos and the A Shau Valley during most of the war. Elements of the 1o1st would be involved in 15 campaigns, including the Battle of Hamburger Hill and Firebase Ripcord.
At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the 101st would transform and become an airmobile division.
On October 4, 1974, it was reorganized as the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and designed to be a rapidly deployed and highly mobile attack force that could engage enemies at long distances with a powerful blow, often by surprise.
Decades later, the Screaming Eagles would eventually be deployed for combat in the Persian Gulf War in Iraq, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, as well as being redeployed numerous times to these regions for other combat missions.
They would also be deployed for peacekeeping missions and support operations in Somalia, Haiti, the Sinai Peninsula, Central and South America, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Aaron Daugherty
Without a shadow of doubt, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has earned a legendary reputation since World War II. Their motto, "Rendezvous with Destiny", is fitting for the legacy they have created. And to this day, the Screaming Eagles continues to be one of the most revered and feared military units in the world.
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