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- Herb, Philip W
On August 16, 1942, the 376th was re-designated Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (PFAB) and attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. During the next 11 months, It trained under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur Maben Griffith who took command of the 376th in November 1942.
On May 10, 1943, the 376th arrived in Casablanca in French Morocco to begin to prepare for operations in Sicily. Some days later, after heavy fighting, General Patton decided to reinforce its central device. To do this, he decided to drop more than 2,000 men he held in reserve. They were the 1st and 2nd Battalion, 504th PIR, 376th PFAB and C Company of 307th. They had jumped on the runway Farello held by the Americans.
Unfortunately, the waves of C-47 followed an air attack by the Luftwaffe. The gunners of the DCA, nervous, opened fire on the aircraft destroyed 23 C-47, damaging 37 of a total of 144 transport aircraft. Losses were estimated at 10% of the workforce. The investigation revealed that not everyone was unaware of the operation.
After Sicily, the 504th PIR and the 376th PFAB were merged to form the 504th Regimental Combat team. They fought all the rest of the war.