Colonel Edson Duncan Raff was a United States Army officer and author of a book on paratroopers. He served as Commanding Officer of the first American paratroop unit to jump into combat, the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, near Oran as part of Operation Torch during World War II. His book, We Jumped to Fight, was based on his experience in that operation and was published in 1944.