Within thousands of paratroopers who were gearing up for the invasion of Europe, stood a very small, elite and rogue airborne unit; The Filthy 13.
A hand selected unit comprised of only 13 hard-living and hard-fighting brawlers from the 506thPIR, 101st. They were trained specifically to venture deep behind enemy lines to blow shit up and kill Nazis. They were known for both their courage in battle and their general disregard for rules of any kind; simply put, they just didn’t give a fuck! (Now you know where E.M. Nathanson got the idea of his novel titled “The Dirty Dozen”) The name Filthy 13 arose during their training in England, where they would bathe and shave only once a week, and never washed their uniform. These guys were not afraid to get into a fight or spend some time in the stockade.
The leader of them all was Jake Mcniece; a half-breed Indian from Oklahoma. Despite making 4 combat jumps and awarded 4 Bronze Stars and 2 Purple Hearts, he was continuously demoted as fast as they pinned his new chevrons; mostly due to his deliberate disobedience and giving zero fucks. Regardless of his attitude, his commanders always knew that he was the man that could get shit done.
During the preparations for D-Day, the Filthy 13 was the only platoon to sport mohawks and war paint. Baldness would be more hygienic on a battlefield strewn with dead bodies McNiece said. They wreaked havoc in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge and well deep into Germany, and despite suffering heavy casualties, they accomplished all their missions. “We went AWOL every weekend that we wanted to, and we stayed as long as we wanted to. We stole jeeps; we stole cranes. We blew up barracks; we blew down trees; and we stole the colonel's whiskey.” – Jake Mcniece #hardcore #ww2 #dday #stayzero #zerofoxtrot @stayzeroactual