The 504th Infantry Regiment was first constituted as a Parachute Infantry Regiment with the same numerical designation on 24 February 1942. Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, the Regiment took part in six campaigns in the European theater, earning three Presidential Unit Citations and several foreign unit awards including the Military Order of William (Degree of the Knight of the Fourth Class), a Netherlands Orange Lanyard, a Belgian Fourragere 1940, and two citation in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army. Along the way, it picked up its nickname, "Devils in Baggy Pants."
Reorganized and redesignated as Airborne Infantry in 1947, again retaining its numerical designation, the Regiment was allotted to the Regular Army in 1948. When it was relieved from assignment to the 82nd Airborne in 1957, it was reorganized and redesignated again in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) as the 504th Infantry. In 1986, it was withdrawn from the CARS and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System, but it wasn’t until 2005 that it received its current designation of 504th Infantry Regiment. It comprises two Battalions, the 1st and 2nd, both of which are subordinate units of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. The Battalions are listed as the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the official Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) Web site.
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