Collection: Smokejumpers in Service: The 555th Battalion Legacy

This is the story of the Triple Nickles. The fearless warriors of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the first all-Black airborne unit in the United States Army. Trained in the 1940s during the height of segregation, these brothers weren’t just breaking barriers:  they were falling from the sky to burn them down. Though they never deployed overseas during World War II, their mission was just as dangerous: they became “smokejumpers”, leaping from planes into the blazing forests of the American West to battle wildfires caused by Japanese balloon bombs. Fighting both flames and racism, these men performed over 1,200 jumps with no parachuting fatalities; a record of precision and bravery that could not be denied.

But the Triple Nickles didn’t just serve, they excelled. They earned respect and recognition despite a system built to ignore their heroism. Though many of their achievements were buried beneath the silence of institutional racism, their service helped pave the way for the eventual desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces. Today, we honor them not just as soldiers, but as trailblazers, men who rewrote history in mid-air. This exhibit stands as living testimony that even in a country that denied their humanity, the 555th showed the world the strength, discipline, and excellence of Black men who would not be grounded.