The 17th Airborne...

...was a lesser-known US airborne division during WWII. Most everyone has heard of the 82nd and the 101st, and their actions in Normandy, Holland and Belgium, but not a lot of people know anything about the 17th. This is what inspired me to do this figure.

While he's changed a lot since I originally did him, the concept is still the same. I got his uniform in a lot I bought cheaply at a flea market last year, and it has taken me a year to finally get him the way he is now. He looks good, so this is probably how he will stay.

I picked up the figure also at a flea market. I had the helmet and the boots. I originally bought a garand cartridge belt and gave him an M-1. I had another GI Joe with a BAR, so I decided to switch. He had no mussette bag or suspenders, and limited accessories until recently.

But you can't have an under-equipped trooper jumping across the Rhine, so I finished him. I bought a few things, and took a few things from other figures I had changed, and made my 17th trooper ready to fight. I think he looks pretty good.

As an added note, the original 17th Airborne began forming in 1942, but was not officially activated until mid-1943. As such, it did not ship out to England until well after the Normandy Invasion was planned. It remained stateside to compete training.

Arriving in England after the invasion of France, the 17th was not chosen to participate in Operation Market Garden, as Allied high command didn't feel it would be completely combat ready. The division did see significant action during the German Ardennes Offensive, aka "the Battle of the Bulge". The 17th competed its only combat jump in March of 1945, dropping across the Rhine River and into Germany, along with the British 6th Airborne Division, as part of "Operation Varsity". Once the invasion of Germany had begun, the demise of the Third Reich was almost certain. The 17th remained active during the occupation of Germany, and arrived home to little fanfare or renown. It was officially deactivated in September of 1945.

See, when you play with toys, you can learn new and interesting things!