The Triple Nickles
The Triple Nickles  
Podcast: Stuff You Missed in History Class
Published On: Wed May 21 2025
Description: The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, also called the Triple Nickles, were the first Black paratroopers in the U.S. military, and their story is connected to the desegregation of the military after World War II. Research: 555th Parachute Infantry. “Malvin L. Brown.” http://triplenickle.com/malvinbrown.htm Aney, Warren. “Triple Nickles -- 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.” Oregon Encyclopedia. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/555th_parachute_infantry_triple_nickle_batallion/ Associated Press. “Air Force Starts Probe Into Troop Bombing.” The Miami Herald. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/617847549/ Associated Press. “Army Lists Dead in Bomb Blast.” The Tampa Times. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/326171714/ Biggs, Bradley. “The Triple Nickles: America’s First All-Black Paratroop Unit.” Hamden, Conn. Archon Books. 1986. Bradsher, Greg and Sylvia Naylor. “Firefly Project and the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (‘Smoke Jumpers’).” National Archives. 2/10/2015. https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2015/02/10/the-555th-smoke-jumpers/ Cieslak, Thomas. “Equal in All Ways to All Paratroopers - The Origin of the ‘Triple Nickles’.” U.S. Army. 5/27/2019. https://www.army.mil/article/222374/equal_in_all_ways_to_all_paratroopers_the_origin_of_the_triple_Nickles Crumley, Todd and Aaron Arthur. “The Triple Nickles and Operation Firefly.” National Archives. 2/5/2020. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2020/02/05/the-triple-Nickles-and-operation-firefly/ Curran, Jonathan. “The 555TH Parachute Infantry Company ‘Triple Nickles.’” U.S. Army National Museum. https://www.thenmusa.org/articles/triple-Nickles/ Ferguson, Paul-Thomas. “African American Service and Racial Integration in the U.S. Military.” U.S. Army. 2/23/2021. Via archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20240327034226/https://www.army.mil/article/243604/african_american_service_and_racial_integration_in_the_u_s_military Forest Service Aviation & Fire Management. “History of Smokejumping.” August 1, 1980 Gidlund, Carl. “African-American Smokejumpers Help Celebrate Smokey’s 50th.” Fire management notes / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1993. https://archive.org/details/CAT77680365067/ Morris, Walter. “Base Plate.” Triplenickle.com. http://triplenickle.com/waltermorris.htm Queen, Jennifer. “The Triple Nickles: A 75-Year Legacy.” USD Forest Service. 2/28/2020. Via archive.org. https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/triple-Nickles-75-year-legacy The Forest History Society. “U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers.” Via Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20170316132550/https://foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Policy/Fire/Smokejumpers/Smokejumpers.aspx USDA Forest Service. “Operation Firefly & the 555th.” https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/smokejumpers/missoula/history/operation-firefly Weeks, Linton. “How Black Smokejumpers Helped Save The American West.” NPR History Dept. 1/22/2015. https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/01/22/376973981/how-black-smokejumpers-helped-save-the-american-west Williams, Robert F. “The "Triple Nickles": Jim Crow Was an Elite Black Airborne Battalion's Toughest Foe.” History News Network. 9/6/2020. https://www.hnn.us/article/the-triple-Nickles-jim-crow-was-an-elite-black-air See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.