Today, the US Congress presented the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of members of the First Special Service Force.
Founded during WWII, the First Special Service Force was a combined US/Canadian commando unit. Shortlived, the unit was formed in 1942 at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana and disbanded in 1944 in France after suffering significant casualties. The casing of the unit’s colors is honored annually by US Army SF and Canadian units during Menton week which commemorates the location of the disbanding at the village of Menton, France.
Initial unit cadre were trained in light infantry tactics, parachuting, hand-to-hand combat, demolitions and skiing. Unit members also familiarized with enemy weapons. Once deployed, they fought in the Aleutian Islands as well as in the ETO in both Italy and France, earning the nickname, “Devil’s Brigade”. Their German adversaries referred to the Forcemen as “Black Devils” because the used boot polish to camouflage their faces during nighttime raids.
I consider the First Special Service Force to be one of America’s initial Special Mission Units with specialized training, weapons and equipment including the M41 Johnson Machine Gun, V42 combat knife and Weasel amphibious vehicle.
As for the sticker, these were placed on enemy casualties and equipment by Forcemen. It depicts the unit patch and the German; “Das dicke Ende kommt noch,” which means “The Worst is yet to Come”. Talk about an effective psyops campaign.
Anyone who has served in SOF has much to owe these trailblazers who did Canada and America proud. In fact, do a little research about this great unit and you’ll learn a lot about your heritage.
