The 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team (517th PRCT) began its existence in March 1943, training at Camp Toccoa in the backwoods of Georgia. Although it began as the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment (517th PIR), an element of the 17th Airborne Division, the 517th PRCT was formed when the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment was combined with the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (460th PFAB) and the 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company. The 517th saw most of its combat (in Italy, Southern France, and the Battle of the Bulge) as an independent unit. At the end of World War II, the unit was eventually incorporated into the 13th Airborne Division.