If you google "82nd Airborne Division Sicily" you may stumble across any one of the following images. They are pretty well known photographs, and have been published in plenty of books but, although attached to the 82nd at various stages, this is in fact the 509th PIB, a unit /1

that was one of a number of independent Parachute or Glider units serving within the U.S Army in WWII. On closer inspection there is one telling clue that this is 509th and not 82nd, the arm flags. The 82nd did, as a Division, wear a loose muslin cloth 48 star US Flag for the /2

duration of WW2 and were, as far as I can tell, one of few complete Divisions to do so. But, as we can see from the images, these flags are on the sleeve usually reserved for the Divisional SSI (Shoulder Sleeve Insignia), which is how we know this is the 509th. The 509th did /3

not wear a Divisional SSI, they did not need to, so the armflag was worn on the left sleeve in its place. Some have tried to claim the images are reversed, but again we can tell this isn't true, the arm flags are the correct way around, and we can see the jump door of the C-47 /4

is on the correct side of the fuselage. In addition, on even closer inspection we can see that there is evidence of the pants (leg) pockets having been reinforced with heavy cotton, sewn flat to the pant leg, as well as with the lower bellowed pockets of the jacket. This was /5

a modification first carried out by members of the 509th PIB who, when jumping over North Africa in what was the first aggressive use of US Paratroopers in WWII, found that the stitching on the pockets of their M42 jumpsuits was wholly inadequate and not capable of containing /6

items of any real weight when faced with the opening shock during a static line jump. Grenades, ammunition clips, etc would simply rip through the bottom of the pockets and, of course, this made for a dangerous DZ. Though the bellowed pockets on the M42 were designed to allow /7

the wearer to carry more, and sewing them flat compromised that ability to carry more, many in the 509th found it more important to actually retain what they could carry on a jump, as opposed to seeing it fly to earth below them rendering a pocket useless for the duration of /8

that campaign.

The 509th weren't the only unit to do this, and criticism of the suits ability to retain heavy objects in the pockets is ultimately what led to the reinforcing of the suits worn by both the 101st and 82nd Abn Divs into Normandy, which was done professionally /9

by Riggers within the Division in such a manner that the bellowing in the pockets was retained, allowing the wearer to carry plenty of equipment, including grenades, in the pockets.