[3] The division was organized on 25 August 1917, at Camp Hancock, Georgia, (now subdivided and owned by a combination of the City of Augusta-Richmond County, Veterans Administration, and private parties) and later served with distinction on the Western Front in the final months of World War I.

Meanwhile, the 328th Infantry Regiment advanced on the west of the Moselle River, made contact with the 90th Division, and entered the town of Norroy, to consolidate American troop positions.

On the night of October 6, 1918, the 164th Brigade relieved troops of the 28th Division, which were holding the front line from south of Fléville to La Forge, along the eastern bank of the Aire River.

The division headquarters was organized on 23 September 1921 at 1202-1/2 Main Street in Columbia, South Carolina, relocating in 1923 to the Post Office Building where it remained until activated for World War II.

In April 1943, paratroopers from the 82nd, under the command of Major General Ridgway, sailed into the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and landed in North Africa as part of the Allied plan to invade Sicily.

In January 1944, the 504th, commanded by Colonel Reuben Tucker, which was temporarily detached to fight at Anzio, adopted the nickname "Devils in Baggy Pants", taken from an entry in a German officer's diary.

On 5 and 6 June these paratroopers, parachute artillery elements, and the 319th and 320th, boarded hundreds of transport planes and gliders to begin history's largest airborne assault at the time (only Operation Market Garden later that year would be larger).

War correspondent Bill Downs, who witnessed the assault, described it as "a single, isolated battle that ranks in magnificence and courage with Guam, Tarawa, Omaha Beach.

[33] After helping to secure the Ruhr, the 82nd Airborne Division took over Ludwigslust past the Elbe River, accepting the surrender of over 150,000 men of Lieutenant General Kurt von Tippelskirch's 21st Army on 2 May 1945.

The howl of soldier complaints was so vehement that the Department of the Army was soon forced to give each trooper who had deployed to Vietnam with the 3d Brigade the option of returning to Fort Bragg or remaining with the unit.

[50] At 1:10 a.m., 4,700 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, under the command of Lieutenant General John L. Throckmorton, arrived in Detroit[51] and began working in the streets, coordinating refuse removal, tracing persons who had disappeared in the confusion, and carrying out routine military functions, such as the establishment of mobile patrols, guard posts, and roadblocks.

[53] Although Army paratroopers exercised some restraint on firepower due to being racially integrated, as well as their combat experience in Vietnam (as opposed to the mainly white and inexperienced National Guard troops), the 82nd was directly responsible for at least one death.

On 29 July, two days after the riot officially ended, 82nd Captain Randolph Smith fatally shot Ernest Roquemore, a 19-year-old black man carrying a transistor radio.

[59] Nine years later in August 1980, the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry was alerted and deployed to conduct civil disturbance duty at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, during the Cuban refugee internment.

The operation continued with an assault of multiple strategic installations, such as the Punta Paitilla Airport in Panama City and a Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) garrison and airfield at Rio Hato, where Noriega also maintained a residence.

The attack on La Comandancia (PDF HQ) touched off several fires, one of which destroyed most of the adjoining and heavily populated El Chorrillo neighborhood in downtown Panama City.

Eventually, these National Guard truck units effectively "motorized" the 325th Infantry, providing the troop ground transportation required for them to keep pace with the French Division Daguet during the invasion.

The 2–325th INF was the division's spearhead for the ground war who took positions over the Iraqi border 24 hours in advance of U.N. coalition forces at 8:00 a.m., February 22, 1991, on Objectives Tin Man and Rochambeau.

[citation needed] In August 1992, the 82nd Airborne deployed a task force to the hurricane-ravaged area of South Florida to provide so-called "humanitarian assistance" following Hurricane Andrew.

At the same time, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell were negotiating with Cédras to restore Aristide to power, the 82nd's first wave was in the air, with paratroopers waiting at Green Ramp to air-land in Haïti once the airfields there had been seized.

[citation needed] Former vice president Al Gore would later travel to Fort Bragg to personally thank the paratroopers of the 82nd for their actions, noting in a speech on 19 September 1994, that the 82nd's reputation was enough to change Cédras' mind: But it did get a little close there for a while.

The battalion deployed from Fort Bragg "to restore order" against what American officials termed "Cuban refugees" who had attacked and injured a number of Air Force personnel and one marine while protesting their detainment at Empire Range along the Panama Canal.

The 82nd's 49th Public Affairs Detachment was deployed in support of the 1st Armored Division and air-landed in Tuzla with the 1AD TAC CP and began PA operations to include establishing the first communications in print and radio and covering the crossing of the Sava River by the main forces.

[95] In September 2005, another Human Rights Watch report detailed how residents of Fallujah called the 82nd Airborne division "the Murderous Maniacs," based on their treatment of Iraqis in detention.

The officers who spoke to Human Rights watch "believed that about half of the detainees at Camp Mercury were released because they were not involved in the insurgency, but they left with the physical and mental scars of torture.

[citation needed] In March 2006, 3rd Battalion (General Support), 82nd Aviation was selected to augment a special operations task force utilizing CH-47 Chinooks and UH-60 Black Hawks.

The 2d Brigade deployed to the Anbar Province in Iraq in May 2011 for the last time in support of Operation New Dawn with the mission to advise, train and assist the Iraqi Security Forces and lead the responsible withdrawal of U.S.

[101] Just two months following redeployment from Haiti in 2010, elements of 2d BCT (Red Falcons) deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to serve as trainers for the Afghan National Security Forces.

[105] On 3 November 2016, it was reported that 1,700 soldiers from the 2d Brigade Combat Team will deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in Iraq, to take part in Operation Inherent Resolve.

[122][123] In August 2021, elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, particularly the Immediate Response Force, deployed to Afghanistan to secure the evacuation of American diplomats and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants as the Taliban seized land and converged on Kabul.