PENDLETON — The men who served in World War II in the all-Black 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion came from all over the United States. And the paratroopers who honored the battalion — the Triple Nickles — Saturday, April 13, in Pendleton also came from all over the U.S., as well as Canada, England and the Netherlands.

“I volunteered to jump for the Triple Nickles because I’ve been following them for a long time, so it’s a good opportunity for me to give back,” said Donald Garrison, a senior noncommissioned officer and recently retired paratrooper from California. “I grew up with some racism in every part of my life. … I was drawn to them, so I wanted to do something like that.”

The 555th in April 1945 were part of Operation Firefly, the response to the threat of potential wildfires in the U.S. from Japanese incendiary balloons.

The nonprofit All Airborne Battalion organized commemoration of the Triple Nickles in partnership with the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce and the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport. It included a ceremony with speakers, booths featuring modern smokejumpers, U.S. Forest Service employees and members of the National Guard, and nearly 40 paratroopers of all ages jumping out of a World War II C-47 Skytrain transport plane — in much the way the original members of the 555th would parachute into wildfires.

“Their history ties me into the things I’m doing even today,” said Cravis Taybron Jr., the scholarship chairman of the Samuel Council Chapter of the 555th Parachute Infantry Association, also called the Triple Nickles Association, a national organization honoring the legacy of the historic battalion. “This is an exciting opportunity to recapture the history of the Triple Nickles, and a reminder that I benefit because of what they did in that particular time.”

Henk Tukker with Parachute Group Holland said he hadn’t known about the Triple Nickles before they were invited to this event, but since learning about them, he has been excited to participate, especially since people from the All Airborne Battalion have come to honor his country’s history before, too.

”I am proud to be part of it,” Tukker said.

Parachute Group Holland hosts a jump for Operation Market Garden every year. Event organizers for the Operation Firefly commemoration mentioned they hope to make it into an annual event, too.

Modern-day smokejumpers also were excited to take part in honoring the Triple Nickles, who are considered some of the original smokejumpers.

Josh Cantrell, base manager for the U.S. Forest Service in Redmond, said celebrations such as this event are not frequent.

“Triple Nickles are something you learn about from the very start as part of our history,” he said. “Seeing some of the relatives of the folks that were Triple Nickles and that history, and preserving that history, is just super cool.”

Operation Firefly 2024

The crowd on Saturday counted each paratrooper who jumped out of Betsy’s Biscuit Bomber — 10 at a time for the first three jumps, and seven on the last — and cheered as they landed safely.

Robert L. Bartlett, Ph.D., gave a keynote address about the significance of the Triple Nickles — both in terms of their work and their experience of racism — and the event itself held to honor them.

”There’s never been anything on this scale,” Bartlett said before speaking to the crowd. “The city of Pendleton has always been very, very interested in this story and doing whatever they can to preserve it, but this size of an event, I think that’s very significant that so many people have come out to have this experience.”

Descendants of two Triple Nickles also attended.

The son of retired Lt. Col. John C. Cannon, a former Triple Nickle who died in 2014, spoke to the crowd. His father made 99 jumps during his lifetime, said the younger Cannon, retired Lt. Col. Carl Cannon. He asked retired Sgt. Jordan D. Bednarz, the event’s organizer, to take his father’s jump wings with him on the jump, to make it his 100th.

Bednarz became emotional as he pocketed the wings.

“Each one of these guys is here on his own dime,” said Bednarz to the crowd, talking about the paratroopers preparing to jump, “and at the end of the day, each one of these men will have spent more on this operation than the average family spends on Christmas, and they do it for men who will never know their names and they’ll never get a chance to thank them, and they did it anyway.”

Antonio R. Harris, grandson of Sgt. Joe Harris, the 107-year-old last known living member of the Triple Nickles, also told the crowd about his grandfather’s legacy. He made 72 successful jumps in World War II, the younger Harris said, and was later honorably discharged from the army.

“Joe Harris has lived in the great city of Compton in California for over 60 years,” he said, “and is considered among his neighbors, friends, family and community, a true treasure.”

The World War II veteran did not attend the ceremony, but made a brief appearance via video call to hear cheers from the crowd in his honor. The elder Harris’ photo was given to retired Sgt. Butch Garner, a 77-year-old jumpmaster who has made 579 jumps in his lifetime, to carry during the operation.

After the ceremony, Antonio Harris said it was humbling to be at the commemorative event.

“It means the world to me,” he said. “My grandfather is Black history, and it’s important for him to be acknowledged.”