Paratroopers of the "All American" 82nd Airborne Division check their parachutes as they prepare for the next jump.

"All American"

Pathfinders, drop zone markers of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division; 1944.
  The pathfinder teams dropped approximately thirty minutes before the main body in order to locate designated drop zones and provide radio and visual guides for the main force in order to improve the accuracy of the jump. These navigational aids included compass beacons, colored panels, Eureka radar sets, and colored smoke.  When they jumped, the pathfinders often would encounter less resistance than the follow up waves of paratroopers, simply because they had the element of surprise on their side;   Once the main body jumped, the pathfinders then joined their original units and fought as standard airborne infantry.

Pathfinders

A British dispatch rider shaking hands with a US soldier of the Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF), Belfast, Northern Ireland, January 1942. -  The motorcycle is a BSA M20, which was one of the most widely used motorcycles in the British military during WW2. All vehicles used by the British army had an identification number and motorcycles had the prefix "C". 