One year after Gibson enlisted, he had an important mission at Salerno, Italy. The 82nd Airborne mission had a combat operation, a night parachute drop onto the Salerno Beachhead on September 13, 1943 in support of General Mark Clark's 5th Army, which was in danger of being pushed back into the sea. The allies held onto the beachhead, but Germany launched counterattacks, which almost pushed American forces into the sea, forcing General Mark Clark to take action. He commanded C-47 pilots on September 9, 1943, at 3:30am to drop “oil drums filled with gasoline-soaked sand” that were ignited every 50 yards. Gibson and his battalion were paratroopers, landing south of the Sele River to join the rest of his division. When this area was secured, they continued to push into Italy, protecting its troops from the German advance in the country.