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The 506th Infantry Regiment, originally designated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR) during World War II, is an airborne light infantry regiment of the United States Army.
Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment has two active battalions: the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (1-506th IR) is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (2-506th IR) is assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
The regiment served with the 101st Airborne Division in World War II. Regimental elements have served with the 101st in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Regimental elements have also served in peacetime and in Iraq with the 2nd Infantry Division.
The World War II actions of E Company ("Easy Company") of the regiment's 2nd Battalion were portrayed in the 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers".
506th Infantry Regiment (Currahee):
Constituted 1 July 1942 in the Army of the United States as the 506th Parachute Infantry. Activated 20 July 1942 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia.
Assigned 1 March 1945 to the 101st Airborne Division. Inactivated 30 November 1945 in France.
Redesignated 18 June 1948 as the 506th Airborne Infantry.
Allotted 25 June 1948 to the Regular Army.
Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. Inactivated 1 April 1949 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky.
Activated 25 August 1950 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. Inactivated 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky.
Activated 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Relieved 25 April 1957 from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division; concurrently reorganized and redesignated as the 506th Infantry, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.
Withdrawn 16 March 1987 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System.
Redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 506th Infantry Regiment.
The 506th PIR Para-Dice (Pair-O-Dice) Pocket Patch design is attributed to Bill Donnan and/or Harold Donaghe (both from B Company, 1st BN, 506th PIR), who created it at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, in the summer of 1942.
Joe Witzerman (HQ, 2nd BN, 506th PIR) did the artwork.
The design consists of a diving eagle in front of a parachute canopy and a pair of dice, showing a "5" and a "6" and connected with a large black "0", signifying the 506 attacking from the sky.
The Para-Dice patch was approved on 20 April 1943 and was worn on the left jacket pocket.
However, since this was a regimental insignia, it was not an authorized patch once the 506th PIR was attached to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 1 June 1943.
