PENDLETON, OR. – May 2024 will mark 80 years since Operation Firefly started the legacy of the group eventually named the Triple Nickles.
The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was established to target balloon bombs in the Pacific Northwest that were sent by the Japanese military. As the first all-black airborne unit in the U.S. Army, the paratroopers were kept in the states and also fought wildfires from Pendleton.
“There was over 1200 jumps here in the Pacific Northwest,” says All Airborne Battalion Captain Darren Cinatl. “Just think about that for a few minutes as we gather on this sacred ground where these men gathered, trained, assembled and launched from C-47, just like this aircraft right behind me.”
80 years later, the Triple Nickles are still remembered by the community.
The Eastern Oregon Regional Airport still hosts paratroopers who land on the runway, but the area will now be called the Malvin Brown Drop Zone, named for the only member of the 555th Battalion to die during Operation Firefly.
Brown died while smoke jumping into the Umpqua National Forest. He died on August 6, 1945. The same day an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
“I don’t think Malcolm Brown knew that that had occurred at the time of his death,” says Captain Cinatl, “but these men now know forever that their spirit, their fortitude and their actions in 1945 set the tone for what happened with the American Airborne in future.”
While celebrating the fallen members of the Triple Nickles, the All Airborne Battalion honored those who still have a story to tell.
Sargeant Joe Harris’s grandchildren made the trip to Pendleton to speak on his behalf. With his 108th birthday in August, Harris is the last known Triple Nickle still alive.
Along with Harris, Lieutenant Colonel Carl Cannon handed Sargeant Jordan Bednarz his father, Lieutenant Colonel John Cannon’s jump rings with a special request.
“My dad had 99 jumps,” said Cannon. “This would be his 100th.”
LTC Carl Cannon is an Army Veteran and paratrooper himself. He says without the Triple Nickles, he wouldn’t have had a chance in the military.
“My dad and all the other Triple Nickle soldiers who made it possible for me to follow in their footsteps,” says LTC Cannon. “The things they did and what they endured to be the success they were should never be forgotten. I can see from the crowd here that it is recognized in Pendleton, Oregon but the history of the Triple Nickles needs to be spread worldwide.”
