Ahead, as far as the eye could see, the black pavement of Fifth Avenue lay smooth and empty between the towers of Manhattan. Millions of people, jammed along the sidewalks, stood waiting to welcome the 82nd Airborne Division. In 42 side streets below massive, grey Washington Arch, 13,000 soldiers waited too.
The division's proud, rugged commander, tall, slender, 38-year-old Major General James ("Slim Jim") Gavin, marched out into the avenue. The 82nd's bayonet-tipped phalanxes moved out behind him, and the cold wind sent a contagious roar of applause rolling for miles through the great city.
The U.S. Army was parading again in...
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