In November 1942, successful graduates of the Army's jump school were screened by Major Joerg for suitability to join what would later become the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB). Late in December, some 450 selectees were shipped to Panama. There, 125 men of Company C, 501st PIB became the cadre for the 450 new men arriving from the States. The 551st was thus born with the blending together of the two groups of paratroopers.
The number selected for this unit, 551, seemed to help separate the battalion from all other airborne units. The basic numbering sequence for airborne units was from 501 to 517. The number 551 was selected for Major Joerg's Battalion in order to confuse the enemy. U.S. Army leaders decided that if they skipped numbers in the sequence, enemy forces would think there were more paratrooper regiments than there really were.
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