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  • 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (United States)
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  • The 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) was a Ranger light infantry company of the United States Army active during the Korean War. As a small special operations unit, it specialized in irregular warfare. A segregated unit, all of its personnel, including its officers, were African-Americans.
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Garrison
  • Pusan, South Korea
Branch
command structure
Role
Nickname
  • "Buffalo Rangers"
Country
Type
Dates
  • --10-09
Width
  • 30
Unit Name
  • 2
notable commanders
  • Warren E. Allen
Allegiance
Battles
  • Korean War
  • *Operation Tomahawk *Battle of the Soyang River
BGCOLOR
  • #c6dbf7
Motto
  • "Buffalo"
Source
  • —Major General Ned Almond's controversial order to keep the 2nd Ranger Company segregated by assigning non-Ranger black troops and blocking white Ranger replacements.
Quote
  • "Colored troops who arrive in this division, if they have the proper MOS, will be assigned to the 2nd Ranger Company. Others who are assigned by error will be returned to the Eighth Army Replacement Battalion. Personnel will not be mixed within units. If Ranger Company becomes overstrength, another company will be formed."
Size
abstract
  • The 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) was a Ranger light infantry company of the United States Army active during the Korean War. As a small special operations unit, it specialized in irregular warfare. A segregated unit, all of its personnel, including its officers, were African-Americans. Activated and trained as a successor organization to the 2nd Ranger Battalion from World War II, the 2nd Ranger Company was formed and trained extensively in airborne warfare. Deployed to South Korea in December 1950, the company quickly adopted the motto of "Buffalo Rangers" and worked extensively as a scouting force for the U.S. 7th Infantry Division. In this role, the company undertook several major operations against the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, including Operation Tomahawk in early 1951. Even though racial politics often resulted in the company receiving untrained replacements, it performed well in many small-scale engagements during this time. In the summer of 1951, the company was employed along the front line as an advance force to push back Chinese attacks as the front lines became more static. The company was highly regarded for its actions capturing and holding Hill 581 during the Battle of the Soyang River, in which the company inflicted hundreds of casualties on the Chinese without a single Ranger being killed. Disbanded in August 1951 along with all the other Ranger companies, the unit's soldiers accrued several awards in its 10-month existence. These included four campaign streamers, nine Silver Star Medals and over 100 Purple Heart Medals. Subsequent research has focused on the economy of force of how the Rangers were employed and how their performance was impacted by the racist policies of their time.