An event in Pendleton this weekend will honor the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, also known as the Triple Nickles. Formed during WWII, the unit was the first all-Black paratrooper battalion in the U.S. military. The Nickles were stationed in Pendleton as part of Operation Firefly, a top-secret effort to intercept and disarm Japanese balloon bombs that were floated over the Pacific. The unit fought the wildfires caused by the balloons as some of the nation’s earliest smokejumpers, all while facing discrimination as service members and civilians.

Jordan Bednarz is the event coordinator and recruiting and retention director for the veterans support nonprofit All Airborne Battalion. Robert Bartlett is a retired educator from Eastern Washington who produced a documentary on the Triple Nickles. They join us to share more about the battalion’s history and its legacy.