Camp Toccoa

3 miles up - 3 miles down

Time Line

Aug 1942 - Sept 1943

Time Line Aug 1942 - Sept 1943

Easy Company's Journey through World War Two

Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, was one of the more decorated units in World War Two.

Easy Company's war started at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, before making training stops at Fort Benning, Georgia, Camp Mackall, North Carolina, and Camp Sturgis, Kentucky. Easy's final stop stateside was New York City Harbor, where they boarded the troop ship Samaria on their way to Europe and their date with destiny.


Camp Toccoa was a United States Army paratrooper training camp during World War II 5 miles west of Toccoa, Georgia. It was first planned in 1938, constructed by the Georgia National Guard and the Works Projects Administration beginning 17 January 1940, and was dedicated 14 December 1940. The U.S. Army took over the site in 1942

The U.S. Army took over a site with few buildings or permanent structures: personnel were originally housed in tents. More permanent barracks were built as the first soldiers started to arrive. Initially, Camp Toccoa used the Toccoa municipal airport for jump training, but following a transport accident, it was abandoned for having too short a runway for safe C-39 and C-47 operations. All further jump training occurred at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Camp Toccoa also lacked a rifle range, so airborne trainees would march 30 miles (48 km) to Clemson Agricultural College, a military school in South Carolina, to practice on the college's shooting range.

The most prominent local landmark is Currahee Mountain. Paratroopers in training ran from the camp up the mountain and back, memorialized in the HBO series, Band of Brothers, with the shout "three miles up, three miles down." Members of the 506th refer to themselves as "Currahees", derived from the Cherokee word gurahiyi, which means "stand alone, together".

The crest is surmounted by a group of telecommunications towers.

Currahee, 3miles up…3 miles down and the 101st Airbourne running back the last 3 miles.

Name Change

The facility was initially named Camp General Robert Toombs after a Confederate Civil War General.

Colonel Robert Sink, commander of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, one of the first units to train there, thought that it would prompt superstitions to have young men arrive at Toccoa, travel Route 13 past the Toccoa Casket Company to learn to jump at Camp "Tombs", so he persuaded the Department of the Army to change the name to Camp Toccoa.

Colonel Robert Sink

Units trained at Toccoa

501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (501st PIR): attached to the 101st Airborne Division

  • 506th PIR: attached to the 101st Airborne Division

  • 507th PIR: attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. 17th Airborne Division

  • 511th PIR: attached to the 11th Airborne Division

  • 517th PIR: attached to the 17th Airborne Division and the U.S. 13th Airborne Division

  • 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion: attached to the 11th Airborne Division

  • 295th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company (FA)

Taccoa today

Then and now - Troops arriving at the Toccoa station and today it is a museum

The Aldbourne stables were carefully dismantled and shipped over to toccoa to form part of the Museum.

Watch the Video s of the History of Camp Toccoa and The History undergrounds excellent video of Currahee and the Camp.

101st 506 PIR 2nd Battalion Easy company Training locations in USA

  • Camp Taccoa

    August to December 1942

  • Fort Benning

    Dec 1942 to Feb 43. The Curahees get their wings!

  • Camp Mackall

    February to May 1943

  • Camp Breckinridge

    Ending point of maneuvers in Kentucky and Tennessee

    June 1943

  • Fort Bragg

    July to August 1943

  • SS Samaria

    September 1943 - Easy Head for Liverpool, England.