FILTHY THIRTEEN (Hbk)

Within the ranks of the 101st Airborne, a sub-unit attained legendary status at the time, its reputation persisting among veterans over the decades. Primarily products of the Dustbowl and the Depression, the Filthy Thirteen grew notorious, even within the ranks of the 101st. Never one to salute an officer, or take a bath, this squad became singular within the Screaming Eagles for its hard drinking and savage fighting skill - and that was only in training. Just prior to the invasion of Normandy, a "Stars and Stripes" photographer caught US paratroopers with heads shaved into Mohawks, applying war paint to their faces. Unknown to the American public at the time, these men were the Filthy Thirteen. After parachuting behind enemy lines in the dark hours before D-Day, the Germans got a taste of the reckless courage of this unit. In its spearhead role, the thirteen suffered heavy casualties and by the end of the war thirty men had passed through its ranks.