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THE 503d AUSTRALIANS
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Remarkably, the Heritage of the 503d includes the 1st Royal Australian Regiment,
which joined the "Herd" in May/June of 1965 when the two line
Battalions of the Brigade were the 1/503d and 2/503d. When 1st R.A.R. joined up,
it became the THIRD battalion of the Brigade and remained so till it returned to
Australia. It was replaced by the 4/503d, although it was not until the
following year that 3/503d was created to fill the gap in the Brigade. The
lineage of the line Battalions of the Brigade were:- 1/503d, 2/503d, 1st
R.A.R., 4/503d, and 3/503d. Then of course there were the later US
Infantry units that were attached.
1st R.A.R's lineal history goes back to the 65th Battalion, 2nd Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) of WWII. In 1943, prior to the attachment of the 462nd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, the absence of artillery became critical to the 503d P.I.R. combat jump on a Japanese fortified area at Nadzab, New Guinea. Elements of the 7th Australian Division, A.I.F were hastily chosen to jump - in the form of 33 men of the 2/4th Artillery Battery under command of Lt Pearson. After two days hasty parachute training, two of the originals were injured and ruled out. On 5 September 1943, when the 503d P.I.R. went through the door over Nadzab, the 2/4th Artillery Section went out the door with them. Making up for the two injured were two men who made their first jump their combat jump.
After hitting the field, they had one of their 25 pounder guns up and firing within 2 hours. Those gunners of the 7th Australian Division, A.I.F., didn't know then that they were setting the pace for another Australian unit to join with the 503d, some 22 years later on another foreign airstrip when 1st R.A.R., whose lineal history goes back to the 7th Australian Division, A.I.F., were to join with the sons of the 503d P.I.R. at Bien Hoa, Vietnam. |
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