517th
Parachute Regimental Combat Team
517th
Parachute Regimental Combat Team
Summary Wartime Statistics
"The 517th PRCT is one of the greatest fighting machines that America has ever fielded."
-- William B. Breuer, author and historian
ELEMENTS
| 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment |
| 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion |
| 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company |
| Activated as elements of 17th Airborne Division |
| Declared an independent unit and shipped to Italy (May 44) |
| Rome-Arno |
| Southern France |
| Rhineland |
| Ardennes-Alsace |
| Central Europe |
| 517th PRCT - French Croix de Guerre (Draguignan, France) |
| 517th PRCT - Belgian Croix de Guerre |
| 1/517th PIR - Belgian Croix de Guerre (Soy-Hotton, Belgium) |
| 2/517th PIR - Belgian Croix de Guerre (Saint Vith, Belgium) |
| 1/517th PIR - Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation |
PFC Melvin E. Biddle B/l/517th PIR (Soy-Hotton, Belgium)
| Lt. Col. William J. Boyle |
| S/Sgt. Albert P. Deshayes |
| T /Sgt. Wilford C. Anderson |
| T/5 Sporos Gogos (P) |
| T/Sgt. George W. Heckard |
| PFC Nolan L. Powell |
| 517th PRCT - Lt. Col. Louis A. Walsh, Jr./Col. Rupert D. Graves |
| 1/517 PIR - Lt. Col. William J. Boyle/ Lt. Col. Robert E. McMahon |
| 2/517 PIR - Lt. Col. Richard J. Seitz |
| 3/517 PIR - Lt. Col. Melvin Zais / Lt. Col. Forest S. Paxton |
| 406th PFAB - Lt. Col. Raymond L. Cato |
| 596th PCEC - Capt. Robert w. Dalrymple |
| Killed in Action, 247 |
| Wounded, 1,576 |
| 1/517 PIR/17 Airborne Division, Camp Toccoa, Georgia |
| 2/517 PIR/17 Airborne Division, Camp Toccoa, Georgia |
| 3/517 PIR/17 Airborne Division, Fort Benning, Georgia |
"Attack!"
Medal of Honor, 1 (PFC Melvin E. Biddle)
Purple Heart, 1,576
DSC, 6
Legion of Merit, 5
Silver Star, 131
Air Medal, 2
Bronze Star, 631
French Croix de Guerre, 17
Soldiers Medal, 4
The 517th PRCT accumulated over 150 combat days.
The 517th PRCT was the only independent Combat
Team in the ETO.