U.S. PARATROOPERS IN TRAINING IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC. The camera catches a U.S.

U.S. PARATROOPERS IN TRAINING IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC. The camera catches a U.S. paratrooper in action during training at an Allied air base in the Southwest Pacific. At left, he is shown as he plunges carthward from a plane following the leaps of fellow paratroopers. At right, he drifts gently through the air after pulling the rip cord to open his parachute. U.S. paratroopers in their first major action in the Southwest Pacific cut off the retreat of 20.000 Japanese soldiers by a surprise landing in the Salamaua-Lae area of New Guinea in September, 1943. American paratroopers also have seen much action in the Mediterranean theater of operations, including the Allied landings in Sicily and at Salerno on the Italian mainland.