The regiment was first formed in mid-1942 during World War II as part of the 82nd Airborne Division and saw service in Sicily, Italy, Anzio, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

On 29 April 1943, the 504th boarded the troop ship USS George Washington which steamed to North Africa and the regiment's first overseas port of call, Casablanca.

Overall, the Sicilian operation proved costly, both in lives and equipment, but the regiment gained valuable fighting experience and managed to hurt the enemy in the process.

Last minute intelligence disclosed that "negotiations" between Brigadier General Maxwell Taylor, commanding the 82nd Airborne Artillery, and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio were a trap.

The 3rd Battalion, then being held in reserve, rejoined the rest of the 504th and, supported by a huge 350-round barrage from the Navy, repulsed the enemy, forcing the Germans to retreat from Salerno.

For the first time the men were engaged in static trench warfare like that of World War I a generation before, with barbed wire entanglements and minefields in front and between alternate positions.

It was during this battle that the 504th acquired the nickname "The Devils in Baggy Pants," taken from the following entry found in the diary of a Wehrmacht officer killed at Anzio:[1] On 23 March 1944, the 504th was pulled out of the beachhead by landing craft and returned to Naples.

Although Nazi broadcasters warned the 504th by radio that German submarines would never let the Cape Town Castle past the Straits of Gibraltar, the only danger the ship encountered came when all the troops rushed to the same side of the vessel as it pulled into Liverpool on 22 April 1944.

The men of the 504th became even more doubtful the mission would go when told that the planned flight was through the Scheldt Estuary (nicknamed "Flak Alley" by Allied bomber pilots) and that they were reportedly outnumbered by 4,000 of Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) troops and an unknown number of German tanks.

The 1st Battalion formed the second wave, and they established a firm bridgehead from which the units carried the battle to the enemy defending the old Fort Belvedere[5] and captured the bridge from the north side.

Lieutenant General Dempsey, commander of the British Second Army, after witnessing the crossing, characterized the attack with a single word as he shook his head and said, simply, "Unbelievable.

[7] After remaining in the front-line for the next few weeks, on 16 November 1944, the 504th arrived at Camp Sissone near Rheims in Northern France on British lorries, greeted again by the traditional "We're All American..." of the 82nd band.

Crossing an open 400-yard field laced every fifteen yards with barbed wire, the 1st Battalion faced the heaviest enemy fire the 504th had ever encountered, including heavy machine-guns, a 20 mm gun, and a half-dozen German armored vehicles.

The regiment was positioned on the right flank of the U.S. First Army, and on 28 January 1945 the 504th advanced through the Belgian forest of Büllingen in columns of two along a deep snowy trail, meeting only spotty resistance along the way.

Nevertheless, throughout the next several days, the Americans stood at 100-yard intervals collecting souvenirs by the jeep-load as almost never-ending columns of enemy forces poured through the regiment's lines to surrender.

[1] At 10:00 hours on 3 May 1945, a jeep full of I Company men grew tired of waiting for a Russian element to link up with them, so they drove down the south side of the Elde and then twelve more miles to the town of Eldenburg.

There they were entertained by a company of Cossacks, whose specific unit designation none of the men could recall after partaking of the various toasts offered in honor of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.

Here the 82nd Airborne Division earned the name, "America's Guard of Honor," as a fitting end to hostilities in which the 504th had chased the German Army some 14,000 miles (23,000 km) across the European Theater.

The initial deployment of 82nd Airborne soldiers came on 30 April 1965, and the two battalions of the 504th followed on 3 May 1965, landing at San Isidro Air Base to perform both military and humanitarian missions in support of Operation Power Pack.

[1] During these operations, the 504th was often subject to sniper fire and in repeated contact with enemy factions, as it contributed greatly to the establishment of security and to the distribution of food and medical supplies to those in need.

However, it became apparent that to restore stability to the Dominican Republic would require a continued U.S. presence, so the 504th remained as part of the Inter-American Peace Force for over a year, not returning to Fort Liberty until the summer of 1966.

[1] In March 1988, 1st and 2nd battalions, the 504th joined soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division (Light) at Fort Ord, California in a deployment to Honduras as part of Operation Golden Pheasant - The 7th ID was the first unit on the ground and went directly to protect the local population from attack by Cuban armed communist guerrillas - a deployment ordered by President Reagan in response to actions by the Cuban and Soviet-supported Nicaraguan Sandinistas that threatened the stability of Honduras' democratic government.

2nd Battalion jumped onto La Paz Drop Zone a day later, and the troopers of the 504th began rigorous training exercises with orders to avoid the fighting on the border.

Allied sorties pounded the enemy for more than a month as the XVIII Airborne Corps made a rapid movement westward to position its units to roll up the flank of the multi-echeloned Iraqi defense.

[1] In August 1992, 2nd Battalion, 504th PIR was alerted to deploy with a task force to the hurricane-ravaged area of South Florida to provide humanitarian assistance following Hurricane Andrew.

[1] In July 2002, 1-504 PIR deployed to Afghanistan with the Task Force (TF) Panther (3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

[12] In October 2005, 1st Battalion, 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment "Red Devils" deployed to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq in order to establish and run a maximum-security detention facility for high-risk detainees.

The 2nd Battalion, 504th PIR, initially deployed to Al Asad Airbase and conducted area security operations until January 2008 when they joined the BCT at Talil Air Base to replace the Australian Battle Group.

During the deployment, they trained and supported Iraqi Security Forces, helping to make the second national elections a success in Anbar, with few injuries and no loss of life.

Roughly 2,500 of the 3,500-strong 1st Brigade Combat Team deployed to Afghanistan from March to September 2012 to spearhead the last major clearing operation of the war, fighting insurgent forces in southern Ghazni Province.