Origin

• The United States set up an airborne unit in 1940 after seeing the devastation caused by the Nazi Germany's aerial assaults. The division came to be known as the 501st Parachute Battalion and, as it grew, the 82nd Airborne Division was established with 17,000 men. Half of the men were soon deployed to a new division, the 101st Airborne, originally set up as a reserve unit.
  
  

World War II

• On June, 6, 1944, the 101st Airborne was sent on its first campaign, D-Day. Before the allied troops fearlessly charged the beaches of Normandy in France, the 101st Airborne attacked from the skies, taking heavy flak from the Germans. Many of the planes were shot down, but the troops who survived continued on foot, taking control of German machine-gun bunkers. The second defining moment for the unit came about when the German forces advanced into Belgium on Dec. 16, 1944. While many divisions defended Bastogne from the Nazis, the Screaming Eagles were vital to the eventual victory, stopping the Germans from reaching the Belgium shipping ports. The 101st Airborne fought a long and grueling battle against the ample German troops, tanks and artillery. Though at first underprepared, the unit fought bravely against the enemy and eventually claimed victory. This was known as the Battle of the Bulge and was a key moment for allied success in World War II. By the time the 101st Airborne arrived at its next destination, Adolf Hitler's headquarters, the Nazi leader was already dead.
  
  

Vietnam

• For the majority of 1968, the Screaming Eagles were involved in the Nevada Eagle operation, the longest operation of the Vietnam War. When tasked with removing the Viet Cong soldiers from of plains of the Thua Thien Province, the 101st Airborne succeeded, killing 3,299 Viet Cong soldiers and taking a further 853 prisoner.
  
  

Gulf War

• The Iraqis had until Jan. 15, 1991, to withdraw their forces from Kuwait, but did not comply; Operation Desert Storm began, and it was time for the Screaming Eagles to act. The 101st Airborne had been sent in, along with many other American troops, to remove Saddam Hussein's men from Kuwait and to protect nearby Saudi Arabia. The Screaming Eagles fired the first shots of the war on Jan. 17; the 1st Attack Aviation Battalion flew eight Apache helicopters toward enemy radar stations and took them out, allowing coalition aircraft to travel to Baghdad.
  
  

Iraq and Afghanistan

• The 101st Airborne was deployed to Iraq in 2003. Its finest moment came in Southern Baghdad when it carried out a lengthy air assault to take the second-largest city in Iraq, Mosul. It was also deployed in Iraq for a second time in 2005; one of its tasks was to train Iraqi security forces. In 2007, the screaming Eagles returned once again; the 101st Airborne is serving under different multinational divisions and carrying out combat operations. In 2007, 101st Airborne troops were deployed in Afghanistan to train Afghan national security forces, fight insurgent groups and start development projects to improve the quality of life in the country.