Eighty years ago, elite paratroopers were leaping from similar aircraft on a clandestine operation known as Operation Firefly.
They parachuted into raging wildfires, often landing in trees and having to descend using ropes. When the ropes were too short, they fell to the ground, learning to shield their bodies as best they could.
Their mission was to extinguish the blazes ignited by balloon bombs launched by Japan across the Pacific Ocean – the earliest documented intercontinental weapons.
These paratroopers were highly skilled and effective, completing 1,200 jumps with only one casualty. And they were all Black.
Sgt. Joe Harris, who is being buried on Saturday, was one of them. He passed away last month in Los Angeles at the age of 108, possibly one of the last surviving members of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, famously called the “Triple Nickles.”
“He shattered barriers, he defied limitations, and he demonstrated that courage knows no skin color,” Harris’ grandson Ashton Pittman told CNN.
Few people at the time were aware of the Triple Nickles, and Pittman mentioned that he only learned about his grandfather’s wartime heroism when he was a teenager.
“His (wartime) service was merely one chapter in a long and extraordinary life,” Pittman added. “But it stands as a testament to his resilience, his honor, and his unwavering commitment to something greater than himself.”
Fighting a Different Kind of Enemy
Even well into World War II, Black soldiers were typically relegated to less demanding, non-combat roles within the Army. They were assigned tasks such as cooking, road repair, laundry, and guarding military entrances, according to Robert Bartlett, a veteran, retired college professor, and historian of the Triple Nickles.
However, sixteen soldiers from the segregated 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion achieved the distinction of being the first Black men to graduate from the Army’s prestigious Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Their unit earned the nickname “Triple Nickles,” a reference to the members’ prior service as “Buffalo Soldiers” of the 92nd Infantry Division and the “buffalo” nickel coin of that era, albeit with an unconventional spelling of “nickle.”
When the Triple Nickles finally received orders for a secret mission, they anticipated being deployed to Europe for combat, Bartlett recounted.
Army parachute riggers work with the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion at Pendleton Army Air Base in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1945. US National Archives
Instead, their group, now numbering 300, was directed to Pendleton Army Airfield in Oregon, where they discovered they would be confronting a different type of adversary, one for which they had not trained: Fires.
The Army was determined to keep “Operation Firefly” confidential, Bartlett stated.
“They didn’t want the American public to panic about being bombed by the Japanese, and they didn’t want the Japanese to know their efforts were successful,” he elaborated.
“It was a covert war the US was engaged in.”
While the US Army was training the Triple Nickles in bomb disposal, the men were also receiving instruction from the US Forest Service to become the nation’s first military smokejumpers.
“The military will teach you how to handle these bombs, but we will need to train you how to jump into the mountains with tools and extinguish fires,” Bartlett recalled the Forest Service telling the Triple Nickles.
Paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry drift toward the tree tops not far from a forest fire in Umatilla National Forest, Oregon, in 1945. US National Archives
Paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry prepare a clearing to keep the forest fire from spreading in Umatilla National Forest, Oregon, in 1945. US National Archives
Instead of the standard Army attire, the Triple Nickles were issued specialized, fire-resistant uniforms, helmets equipped with wire cages for protection against dense brush, and ropes for rappelling from trees.
The precision, tactics, and techniques developed and implemented by the Triple Nickles were instrumental in establishing strategies for parachuting into wildfires. They also became experts in the neutralization of explosives.
Harris completed 72 jumps during his time with the Triple Nickles. He received an honorable discharge after sustaining serious injuries during a jump when his parachute failed to fully deploy.
Unrecognized Then, Obscured Again Now?
The Black heroes of the 555th did participate alongside their White comrades in the 1946 victory parade in New York City, even before the formal desegregation of the Army and the rest of the military.
However, they still faced the indignities of segregation, such as being required to sit at the back of the bus.
“It’s like, ‘We don’t really respect you, but we need you,’” Pittman said, reflecting on what his grandfather and others endured.
To historian Bartlett, the patriotism of the Triple Nickles was undeniable.
“These men loved their country. They loved their country, but their country did not love them,” he stated.
“They viewed their participation in the war as their duty,” he added. “It was what you were expected to do.”
A C-47 of Troop Carrier Command carries these parachutists of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion to the scene of a remote fire in Wallowa Forest, Oregon, in 1945. US National Archives
Bartlett suggested that one reason the Triple Nickles are not more widely known is that its members rarely discussed their service.
Omar Bradley, who would later become the mayor of Compton, California, grew up next door to Harris and said he knew Harris had been part of something significant.
“It’s very difficult to comprehend jumping into a fire,” he said. “So, what it took to transform into that kind of man is something they didn’t talk about. But yes, we knew that Mr. Harris was a member of a very elite group.”
Some of the official recognition of the 555th is being lost. A page on the US Forest Service website dedicated to the agency’s connection to the Black paratroopers, titled “The Triple Nickles: A history of service, an enduring legacy,” is currently blank except for the message “You are not authorized to access this page.”
There has also been a removal of content related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from Pentagon websites under the Trump administration, which erased the stories of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who served during World War II, and the Navajo Code Talkers before public outcry led to their restoration.
Finally, Recognized as a Hero
After leaving the Army, Joe Harris spent decades working as a border patrol officer, according to his grandson Pittman.
The younger man expressed that he has grown to appreciate some of the items his grandfather gave him, such as his Triple Nickles patch and his World War II jacket. “It means the world to me. It’s a piece of history, but it’s a piece of our family’s history,” Pittman said. In October, to honor his grandfather, he decided to undergo paratrooper training, despite not being in the military.
Ashton Pittman carries his grandfather’s photo in his helmet. Courtesy Beyond the Call
“I felt that I needed to do it to pay respect to him and to people that have served, especially the Triple Nickles,” Pittman said. He hopes to travel in the future and participate in jump teams to show his appreciation for veterans.
