The "Triple Nickels" (or Triple Nickles) refers to the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the first all-Black airborne unit in the United States military. Formed during World War II, The name "Triple Nickles" stems from the unit number (555) and the 1940s-era Buffalo Nickel, honoring the soldiers who volunteered from the legendary all-Black 92nd Infantry Division known as the "Buffalo Soldiers". They were activated in December 1943 at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Despite rigorous training, the 555th never deployed overseas. Instead, the War Department assigned them a highly classified domestic mission known as Operation Firefly. Imperial Japan launched thousands of high-altitude balloon bombs designed to carry incendiary devices to the West Coast and start massive wildfires. The Triple Nickels were trained by the U.S. Forest Service as the military's first "smokejumpers". In 1945, they deployed to the Pacific Northwest (including Pendleton, Oregon), responding to 15-30 serious forest fires and completing over 1,200 individual jumps.

In late 1947, the 555th returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and its members were directly transferred into the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. This historic move made it the first racially integrated combat unit in the U.S. Army, preceding President Truman's Executive Order ending military segregation by a year.