E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment

The 506th PIR was an experimental airborne regiment created in 1942 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. E Company missions were to involve being parachuted from C-47 transport airplanes into hostile territory.

Major Richard Winters described the original organization of E Company as follows:

"[Easy] company included three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon contained three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad. Easy also had one machine gun attached to each of its rifle squads, and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team."

Before attending paratrooper training, the unit had to perform the standard battle drills and physical training that comes with being in the parachute infantry. One of the exercises was the regular running of Currahee, a large, steep hill. The phrase "3 miles up, 3 miles down" was derived from this run. E Company, while training at Toccoa, was under the command of Herbert Sobel, who was known for his extreme strictness.

Also as part of their physical training, the members of E Company performed formation runs in three-four column running groups. This innovative type of training was adopted by the Army in the 1960s.


Maj. Monty