Overview
About the event
National Airborne Day has been marked every year since 2002, when it was established by then US President George W Bush and passed by the United States Congress. Following this, in August 2009, the US Senate offered its own recognition of National Airborne Day with Senate Resolution 235.
The date chosen for the occasion is significant as it is the anniversary of the first official US Army parachute jump, on August 16, 1940.
During this flight, forty-eight volunteers who were all members of the Parachute Test Platoon carried out a successful jump in the state of Georgia �?? showing the way forward to hundreds of thousands of paratroopers who later followed in their footsteps.
This was an especially critical time in the life of the military as it was just before the US was about to get involved with the Allies fighting against the Nazis in World War II.
The date chosen for the occasion is significant as it is the anniversary of the first official US Army parachute jump, on August 16, 1940.
During this flight, forty-eight volunteers who were all members of the Parachute Test Platoon carried out a successful jump in the state of Georgia �?? showing the way forward to hundreds of thousands of paratroopers who later followed in their footsteps.
This was an especially critical time in the life of the military as it was just before the US was about to get involved with the Allies fighting against the Nazis in World War II.
