Major General Gavin leads 82nd Air Borne troops during a victory parade in New Yo...HD Stock...

James Maurice "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin (March 22, 1907 – February 23, 1990) was a senior United States Army officer, with the rank of lieutenant general, who was the third Commanding General (CG) of the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. During the war, he was often referred to as "The Jumping General" because of his practice of taking part in combat jumps with the paratroopers under his command; he was the only American general officer to make four combat jumps in the war.

Gavin was the youngest major general to command an American division in World War II, being only 37 upon promotion, and the youngest lieutenant general after the war, in March 1955. He was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses and several other decorations for his service in the war. During combat, he was known for his habit of carrying an M1 Garand rifle typically carried by enlisted U.S. infantry soldiers, as opposed to the M1 carbine rifles traditionally carried by officers besides the Colt Model M1911, .45 caliber pistols.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Gavin

Before the war, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Gavin was instrumental in transforming the 82nd Division from a World War I relic into the famed airborne assault unit that helped liberate Europe. Unafraid of risk, he made hundreds of dangerous training jumps, often with untested, experimental parachutes.

By August 1942, after writing an Army field manual on airborne tactics and techniques, he took command of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and was promoted to colonel. Less than a year later, Gavin and his men would find themselves going toe-to-toe with German and Italian forces after a bungled nighttime airdrop during the invasion of Sicily on July 9-10, 1943.
https://www.uso.org/stories/188-james-m-gavin-a-legend-and-a-leader

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