Last of the Devil's Brigade: Final surviving members of elite WW2 commando unit die within 12 hours of each other in same town Article and photos in Dail Mail: Black Devils' veterans, who served in World War II, die 12 hours apart in Helena, Montana | Mail Online By LOUISE BOYLE 3 April 2012 Two veterans, who survived in one of the deadliest commando units of World War Two, have died in their nineties with hours of each other. Mark Radcliffe, 94, and 92-year-old Joe Glass both passed away within 12 hours of each other on Sunday. They both lived in Helena, Montana and were the last members of the First Special Service Force (FSSF) - an elite unit made up of American and Canadian soldiers who captured 27,000 enemy prisoners between 1942 and 1944. The commandos were nicknamed the 'Black Devils' by the Nazis because of their formidable force. 'Mark and Joe were two of the original members of the First Special Service Force, and it’s appropriate that they were the last two survivors in the state,' FSSF aficionado Bill Woon told the Helena Independent Record. Joe Glass was born in Ontario, Canada in 1920. After high school, he worked on a steamboat on the Great Lakes before signing up to the Canadian Army in 1940. Mark Radcliffe was born in Farmington, New Mexico in 1918. He began active duty in 1941 and was deployed to the South Pacific. He was stationed in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. Both men were selected in 1942 for the Plough Project - described as a 'suicide mission' and trained together at Fort Harrison in Helena, Montana. Mr Radcliffe was married to his wife Edith for more than 60 years after they met while at a dance for the troops and local girls in the Montana town. The couple had two children Bob and Carolyn. For his bravery Mr Radcliffe received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with cluster and the Purple Heart with two clusters. He became a civil engineer, staying in the Army Reserves and helping with the Montana Military Museum. He retired from the reserves a full colonel. His wartime friend, Mr Glass volunteered for the Devil's Brigade in 1940 to 'get into combat quicker'. One of the unit's first assignments in the FSSF was a daring midnight assault up Mount la Difensa in southern Italy. Mr Glass was injured during exchange of fire with a German sniper but was soon back on the frontline. He was later badly injured by a mortar in March 1944 during the siege of Anzio beach in Italy. According to the military website, Firstspecialserviceforce.net, Mr Glass said: 'A big piece of shrapnel... went through my chest and out my back. 'My lung collapsed, it broke all my ribs connected to the backbone and I was paralyzed from the waist down. 'When I started coughing up blood, I told a friend of mine, ''Say goodbye to my wife and kid.'' 'They picked me up and dragged me out of there, and then another shell hit me in the arm.' Mr Glass survived the horrifying injuries and returned to the town of Helena with his wife Dorothy and raised four children - Chuck, Bob, Victoria and Dottie. He had a varied life, working as everything from a truck driver to selling insurance and delivering milk. In the 1950s, he operated the Valley Speedway stockcar race track and later owned his own fish and chip shop. THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE The Devil's Brigade (also known as the Black Devils) was a joint operation between the U.S. and Canada founded in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison in Montana. The soldiers fought across Europe in the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific and later in Italy and southern France before being disbanded in December 1944. They saw only 251 days of combat but the force suffered 2,314 deaths, captured 27,000 prisoners and won five U.S. campaign stars and eight Canadian battle honors. Modern American special operations have been founded on the work of this unit. The name came about because the men smeared shoe polish on their faces to help them sneak up on enemies in the dark. Nazis feared them. A journal of a German officer which was found by allies, read: 'The Black Devils are all around us every time we come into the line. We never hear them come.' They were the subject of a 1968 eponymous film while director Quentin Tarantino cited the Black Devils as an influence for the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Read more: Black Devils' veterans, who served in World War II, die 12 hours apart in Helena, Montana | Mail Online
The Devil's Brigade Honoured today in Washington D.C. The surviving members of ''The Devil's Brigade'' received the highest civilian honour in the United States today: The Congressional Gold Medal. Congratulations and thank you for your service! The Devil's Brigade was a legendary Second World War commando unit which was greatly feared by their German enemies. They were a formation of elite U.S.-Canada special forces which later inspired the formation of the U.S. Navy SEALS. For more information visit the Canadian Army 's Facebook page or read the news release from Veterans Affairs Canada: http://bit.ly/1zaecEn
What I do object to is it appears that most commentators are using the same script - "the Devil's Brigade were the forerunners of ALL special groups " - when with a little bit of research would show that Popski's Private Army - the LRDG - AND the SAS were in operation long before the USA entered the conflict - which takes away from the actual efforts of the Devil's bde which were limited but extremely effective… Cheers
Dates of formation of WWII special forces 1. Commandos--formed June1940 (originally "Independent Companies") 2. Long Range Desert Group--formed July 1940 3. Special Boat Service--formed July 1940 4. Australian Commandos--formed March 1941 (originally "Independent Companies") 5. Special Air Service--formed July 1941 6. Royal Marine Commandos--formed February 1942 7. US Marine Raiders--formed February 1942 8. Z Special Unit (Australian)--formed June 1942 9. US Army Rangers--formed June 1942 10. 1st Special Service Force--formed July 1942 11. Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment--formed July 1942 ("Cockleshell Heroes") 12. No. 1 Demolition Squadron ("Popski's Private Army")--formed October 1942 The US Army Special Forces ("Green Berets") trace their ancestry to the 1st SSF, though the Rangers and Marine Raiders were formed somewhat earlier. Many of the British empire special force organizations had existed for a year or two years prior to the formation of the 1st SSF, but some were virtually contemporary with the Force. The 1st SSF was a bit different from many of the other forces listed above. It was actually more of a highly trained light infantry command than a raiding or commando force; in that way it resembled the Chindits. It performed outstandingly in every battle, and it can be argued that its contribution was more valuable than that of smaller forces dedicated to raiding precise targets. Unfortunately it was not possible to maintain the force at its original level of high quality, so it was eventually broken up. According to Geoffrey Perret, when measured even against other high quality units like the Rangers and US airborne the skills of the Forcemen were so impressive as to be "off the scale."
Dad was in No.10 Independent Company. My, how my little heart swelled when I saw that list. Mind you, I already knew it ... but great to see it written down. RIP both men ... and thank you.
