Remembering Jake McNiece & The Dirty Dozen

Jake McNiece, considered the heart and soul of the rough and tough ‘Filthy Thirteen,’ passed away January 21, 2013. He was 93.

The Filthy Thirteen were a Pathfinder unit of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. McNiece and the group were the inspiration for the 1967 film ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ and famous for wearing Mohawks and war paint before their combat jumps.

Though, unlike the film, none were murderers, rapists or robbers, they did raise quite a bit of Hell by getting into frequent brawls with military police and local authorities in Britain. And those are some of the minor things they did! True characters one and all, their most famous one has now left us…

I’ll let him speak for himself.

 Jake McNiece, WWII pathfinder speaks

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSgLoc0trc&w=640&h=385&rel=0]

Jake McNiece Speaks Pt. 2

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPIALGR2B7s&w=640&h=385&rel=0]

Jake McNiece Speaks Part III

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAbya9dFogE&w=640&h=385&rel=0]