327th Infantry Regiment (United States)

The song "Glider Rider" describes (humorously) some of the slights that glider-borne troops felt they received from the Army during World War II; though the regiment's public fame rose with the 1949 movie Battleground about the Siege of Bastogne in late 1944.

[5] The 82nd Division was occupying the Marbache sector in the Moselle Valley with orders to protect the flank of attacking U.S. forces.

The 327th Infantry, conducted a raid on a German strongpoint known as the Bel Air Farm on 13 September with 2 companies, E and K, as the assault force.

[6] The 82nd continued operations in Saint-Mihiel until, on 17 September, it was relieved by troops of the 90th Infantry Division just west of the Moselle River.

Garing, who had spent sixteen years in the United States Marine Band under John Philip Sousa.

Some elements did reach shore on D-Day, 6 June, but because of rough seas, beach traffic, and the fact that the paratroopers of the 101st had already achieved many of their objectives, the landing was delayed.

Chaplain Gordon Cosby earned a Silver Star for bravery in the face of the enemy for assisting wounded glider men in front of heavily armed German soldiers.

Although not official, the men of the 327th understood that Wear was replaced because of friendly-fire artillery casualties while crossing the Douve River.

The regiment played a pivotal role in Operation Market Garden battle near Best, in the Netherlands, encircling a large German force which had been pressured from the west by the tank-supported 502nd of the 101st.

Manuel Hidalgo and Lt. Hibbard of G Company risked their lives in a humanitarian effort to get the enemy to surrender before being annihilated by the 327th.

E Company engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy near the railroad track switch house south of Opheusden.

[citation needed] At Bastogne, Belgium, the 327 held half of the perimeter (including the 401, which was acting as the Regiment's 3rd Battalion and later officially became a part of the 327).

Later, the 327 made an open field maneuver against armored enemy troops east of Foy, which helped secure that village.

On 27 April 1954 the 516th was relieved from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division and activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on 15 May 1954, again as a training unit.

As elements of the 1st Brigade, the 1st and 2nd Battalions 327th Infantry deployed to South Vietnam on 29 July 1965, where they were joined by the rest of the division in late 1967.

In November 1965 Major David Hackworth organized Tiger Force a platoon-sized long-range reconnaissance patrol unit within the 1st Battalion.

[13] On 28 November 1971 a CH-47 carrying five crew and 28 soldiers from the Regiment on a flight from Da Nang to Phu Bai Combat Base crashed into high ground, killing all aboard.

As part of this program, the lineage of the former Company C, 327AIR was redesignated on 21 January 1983 as HHC, 3d Battalion, 327th Infantry, and assigned to the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

The 1st BCT established defensive positions north of Tap Line Road approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of the Iraq border.

On 17 January the 327th Infantry Regiment conducted a ground movement to Camp Eagle II in preparation for deployment into Iraq.

Over the course of the next week the regiment regrouped and by C-130 and ground convey repositioned to RaFa in northern Saudi Arabia and further into TAA Campbell where it remained for approximately 30 days.

The 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment conducted a second air assault operation to seize FOB White under the command of 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Division for further seal the defeat of Iraqi forces.

In early 2003 the entire 101st Airborne Division deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where the 1st Brigade Combat Team made up of the 327th Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Ben Hodges and its support elements prepared for battle at Camp Pennsylvania.

Once in Iraq, the 327th encountered heavy to light resistance from both fleeing Iraqi soldiers as well as the Fedayeen Saddam and other less organized fighters.

During their second tour in Iraq, they were stationed in the Kirkuk province under the command of LTC Marc Hutson and CSM David Allard.

[16][17][18] The 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division conducted a major combat operation in Barawala Kalay Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan in late March–April 2011.

[19] The 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division would suffer 6 killed and 7 wounded during combat operations.

[20] ABC News correspondent Mike Boettcher was on scene and he called it the fiercest fighting he has ever seen in his 30 years of being in war zones.

This battalion was sea-landed in the Normandy invasion, glider-landed during Operation Market Garden and moved by truck to participate in the Battle of the Bulge.

Additional campaigns to be determined The regiment was depicted in the 1949 film Battleground starring Van Johnson and John Hodiak.

Jeep loading onto Waco glider.
PFC William J. Ottersbach of 3rd Battalion, 327th cleans his rifle during a break near Foy. 11 January, 1945.
U.S. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division return fire during a firefight with Taliban forces in Barawala Kalay Valley in Kunar province, Afghanistan, 31 March 2011