Talyn
Emissary
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of the joint War Department/Forestry Service “Firefly Project,” which spanned 1 June to 30 October 1945.
Made up of some 300 paratroopers of the segregated “Triple Nickels” of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion and a few C-47s of the First Troop Carrier Command from the Fourth Air Force’s Ninth Service Command, these men held the line in the Pacific Northwest against a wave of 9,300 Japanese incendiary bombs carried across the ocean via high altitude “Fu-Go” balloons.
laststandonzombieisland.com
While there were “only” 285 reported incidents with these bombs– including six picnickers killed while enjoying the woods in Oregon– the Firefly crews, serving as the nation’s first smoke jumpers, quietly completed 1,200 counter-fire jumps into heavy timber and helped contain 36 fires.
The Firefly project has four of these ships, operated by the Army Air Forces Troop Carrier Command. They cooperate with the US Forestry Service in transporting paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion to the site of the forest fires. This unit is effectively preserving the timberland and the watershed of the Pacific Northwest, spanning the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and even Canada
Trained in EOD as well as wildfire suppression, they had to improvise their gear and hold the line sometimes for days until Forest Service mule trains arrived with conventional firefighters. Then, extraction was typically by foot, several miles back over broken ground to the nearest road, carrying as much as 125 pounds of gear each.
Original Caption: Operation Firefly – A paratrooper in a tree is a common sight near a fire. The troopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry prefer to land in the trees rather than on rough terrain. They carry 150 ft. ropes with them to aid them in reaching the ground. Umatilla National Forest, Oregon. 342-C-K3720
Made up of some 300 paratroopers of the segregated “Triple Nickels” of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion and a few C-47s of the First Troop Carrier Command from the Fourth Air Force’s Ninth Service Command, these men held the line in the Pacific Northwest against a wave of 9,300 Japanese incendiary bombs carried across the ocean via high altitude “Fu-Go” balloons.
The forgotten Skysoldiers who fought the Fu-Go
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of the joint War Department/Forestry Service “Firefly Project,” which spanned 1 June to 30 October 1945. Made up of some 300 parat…
laststandonzombieisland.com
While there were “only” 285 reported incidents with these bombs– including six picnickers killed while enjoying the woods in Oregon– the Firefly crews, serving as the nation’s first smoke jumpers, quietly completed 1,200 counter-fire jumps into heavy timber and helped contain 36 fires.
The Firefly project has four of these ships, operated by the Army Air Forces Troop Carrier Command. They cooperate with the US Forestry Service in transporting paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion to the site of the forest fires. This unit is effectively preserving the timberland and the watershed of the Pacific Northwest, spanning the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and even Canada
Trained in EOD as well as wildfire suppression, they had to improvise their gear and hold the line sometimes for days until Forest Service mule trains arrived with conventional firefighters. Then, extraction was typically by foot, several miles back over broken ground to the nearest road, carrying as much as 125 pounds of gear each.
Original Caption: Operation Firefly – A paratrooper in a tree is a common sight near a fire. The troopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry prefer to land in the trees rather than on rough terrain. They carry 150 ft. ropes with them to aid them in reaching the ground. Umatilla National Forest, Oregon. 342-C-K3720