The Devil's Brigade, an elite force of Canadian and US troops, receive top honour | W5 | REMEMBRANCE

We will take you and help you get to the Capitol in Washington DC on a cold February morning. 42 World War II veterans, including 17 Canadians, are about to

receive

America's highest civilian honor: the Congressional Gold Medal. The men, all in their 90s, now listen to then-House Speaker John Boehner. The

force

was activated in 1942 as an

elite

unit of 1,000 former American and Canadian commandos of the first special service

force

whose legacy lives on for these men today. They saved the free world and are now free to savor it, so today we give them our greatest honor. It has taken 70 years to

receive

this, the greatest honor of their lives, the force best known by their Battlefield nickname, the Black Devils, no matter what they were.

They asked if we could do it, most military leaders around the world wanted us in 1968, Hollywood tried to tell their story on the Devil's Brigade, watch out BR, but in real life they were volunteers like Dawn Ballentine from Montreal. I want to see something real. action and kill some Nazis teach the Germans a lesson once and for all and Herman cough from Detroit when they attacked Pearl Harbor of course I was going to join the army every time the kids did. The US Army cameras were recording when they were training in demolitions and special weapons hand-to-hand combat they fought in 22 battles and never lost a single one you would go out and kill Germans we tried to capture them first if we had to kill them that was another thing and that was not done by knife shot we had the V 42 knife it is sharp on both sides we like the stilos because when we went on patrol at night it was a very silent weapon he could kill someone and he wouldn't know he was dead until he was Charlie, a Port Hope Ontario man who didn't know what he was capable of until a martial arts instructor showed him.

Now, without a word of a lie, he brought me to the point where I was fast enough to draw the gun. his hand before pulling the trigger W5 brought together four of the former commandos in Toronto to hear their war stories first-hand Canadians Charlie man Jack callahill Dawn Balentine and Jim Summers sides how the Devil's Brigade came about how that name or the Black

devil

s that We used shoe polish We used corks We burned the cork, you know, then you rubbed it on your face and it covered your hands. He covered his face so it was black or at least opaque and went on patrol.

What did you do with the night patrols? We eliminate them in the usual way. permanently, yes, permanently, the demons earned their menacing nickname in Italy during a 99-day standoff with the Germans at a place called Anzio on the shores of the Tranan Sea south of Rome, unfortunately the Germans were too smart for us and They almost drove us all back. at sea the first night the germans were so close that we could throw hand grenades at each other, you know, over the musini canal, so close that the anzio combat film shows that the canal was no bigger than a pit ditch, our mission was to defeat the Germans and they were sitting on the other side of the Musini canal with about 18,000 men we were sitting on this side with approximately 3,000 outnumbered 6 to 1 the soldiers put their Commando training to work far behind the front lines with no helmet cap and your gun and a knife and we went out and patrolled no man's land, raising Rous, the Germans everywhere and that's all we did for 3 months and um, you killed them, I mean, you had to do it, um uh, that's how we got our name, one of the German officers we found a notebook. he says those black demons come at night, we don't hear them, we don't see them and they kill us, that's exactly how the name came about, so we made stickers and put them on their foreheads and what did they say the worst? is yet to come in german the worst is yet to come became the black

devil

's calling card we put stickers on their trees on their bodies whatever and those night raids and stickers worked they demoralized the germans they retreated but the war was far from above for the allies the men of the devil's

brigade

spent almost a year fighting in Italy it was in the Italian mountains where the devils fought their most famous battle there the Germans defended the road to Rome on the top of a mountain called The Defense The U.S.

Army had tried to drive them off the mountain, but it wasn't until the Devil's commanding officer, Robert T. Frederick, seen here in an Army film, came up with a plan: a daring attack that only his commands could carry out. The Germans had everything pointing in the other direction. because that's where all the attacks had happened in the past, so he decided he was going to go up the back using artillery fire, the US military launched a diversion so the demons could fight their way to the back back of the mountain. climbing the rope climbing the ropes yeah and then we just went up and when we got to the top, near Dawn, we ran as many as we could as fast as we could to the top and they started mortar bombing us.

Rounds were raining down on us and I thought to myself, this is it, buddy, you come all this way and you're going to end up dead, so before long we're there, you've got your three best people dead, but this is where your training. We had been trained well enough to continue and you know what you have to do and it was pretty scary. We took the regiment took the hill in just a few hours where they had been. days and even weeks were given to take it, the demons succeeded where others had failed and it was that battle for lenza that gave Hollywood an action-packed climax to their 1968 film, Let's Move On, Cease Fire, Cease the fire, keep them covered, major, this is your white flag, thank you.

Sir, thank you very much, in fact, what do you think of that movie? Well, I won't use the language, but it was a stinky movie. The voting was a fool's errand mostly to make it look good, all we did to get to the top. The swamps were made at night, not by day, and in the rain and in the rain, it's true, it's a fast moving war in real life, the cameras were rolling as the Allied Forces advanced, it was on the way from the devil to Rome where Stan Mckin had In his closest contact with death, the Germans had snipers and they were eliminating us, that's when I became a doctor, because our doctor was killed, we lost a lot of doctors.

The first thing he did when I became a doctor, he gave me a nice hat that was a great size. I cross so oh Jesus this is cool so I'm walking to the end of the line and clean something went off and I put my helmet down and it has a spike that goes across it and I asked my friend and I said. What the hell was it that he said he was just a sniper who just missed you? I said the helmet was gone, there were no more targets, those German snipers, well, the commandos took care of them on a mission that ended with the liberation of Rome, what was it like marching into Rome?

The force was the first to arrive in Rome and one of the proudest moments was truly received as heroes. The Canadian house Dell Stone remembers it well. The Italians were waiting for us, mhm, people and they complained about us, they kissed us and hugged us, and you know they are so. happy after being bound so long under German rule that when we got there and they had a little freedom after Rome, the demons drove the Germans out of southern France and the land of the Rhine until, to everyone's surprise, their unit was deactivated, that was in December In 1944, the governments that created the force decided that a small commando unit was no longer necessary to win the war, they divided us into two groups, American and Canadian, and when the Canadians left in the trucks and the image is true, we were in trucks and the Americans run after the trucks crying, yes I'm almost crying now anyway, that's the truth, sorry, sad, since some memories are all All it took was a 1940s hit to lift spirits. ly marlain was a love song that the soldiers took and made their Well, they're not doing it like we did.

I the lamp next to the garden gate. I wait every night at eight. Garden for you. A grave for Fritz. He is in pieces from the direct blows towards you. Marin. I used to know that in harmony, my son-in-law won't appreciate that because he's German. The next R visits the past of the battle, the force was a force to be harnessed and a tribute to the Fallen, the guys who really deserve it are still there in the S when W5 continues Helena Montana, many helping hands. I need all the help I can get. These 11 World War II veterans of the Devil's Brigade.

The Canadians and Americans returned here, where it all began. How are you today? Alright, alright, back to the military base. where they first trained together as a unit at Fort William Henry Harrison, we now stand on the same ground these men walked 73 years ago, today we are here to come full circle and bring the Congressional Gold Medal to Fort Harrison on behalf of the members. of the first special service force to U.S. Special Forces Command, two of the veterans, an American and a Canadian, presented a replica of the medal, America's highest civilian honor, as part of the Devil's 69th reunion, but homecoming medals also bring pain and regret for some. soldiers like Canadian Stan Mckin, why is this so emotional for you? because I lost many friends.

I'm sorry, I can't go to that Memorial. It's terrible when I go to see the names of all my friends because when we left Anzio and started going to the invasion of Rome uh, I didn't see the boys again and I didn't know what happened to them here. I go to the monument, all their names and that really affected me and I think about it all the time mhm, same thing. when they gave me these medals I don't want them because I don't deserve them and I really take it seriously, why do you feel like this?

The guys who really deserve them are still there on the grass, you know, Bittersweet too. American veterinarian Herman C asks what winning the Congressional Gold Medal meant to you. They finally recognize that strength was a force to be good. He took a long time. I'm sorry we didn't get it much sooner. a lot more people could have gotten it. Veterans of the Canadian W5 commando gathered in Toronto feel the same. Charlie, Jack Callowhill, Don Balentine and Jim Summers. Do you think enough has been done to honor what you did long ago? Force can, but I don't think the government will, uh, I don't think it's better to get into that issue here, oh d i uh, I'm not very happy with the government we have, they've been manipulating the military and doing this and that. and I don't think they realize what they are doing, sometimes you have to understand in the states that everything that happens there is awarded a medal in Canada, about 80% of it is a piece of paper.

It seems like the Yankees have done a better job of recognizing the Canucks. Brigadier General Kenig, Base Commander of the United Kingdom, the United States Army presents awards to us Canadians. The recipients are members of the special service force made up of American and Canadian military personnel who fought together in some tough places in The fact that the trip to Germany is the highest praise for the Devil's Brigade in Ottawa came from an American president when Ronald Reagan addressed Parliament in 1981. The first special service force made no distinctions when going into battle. His men had the common cause of freedom in their hands. side and the common denominator of courage in their hearts were neither Canadian nor American, they were generally the liberators of Eisenhower's rule and yet, 70 years after the Second World War and the Canadian veterans of the Devil's Brigade are still fighting a battle for recognition from their own government, yes, the little button, yes, that's a Canadian medal I got.

Ottawa gave each of the Canadian veterans a tin lapel pin, a design based on Canada's 1945 Victory five-cent coin, compared to the US Congressional gold medal. A pound of gold that the veterans gave Bronze replica as a souvenir, but there is a battle medal that Canadian veterans are still fighting for. You all are wearing a lot of medals, even though we are not wearing medals that we are entitled to, even though we were told not to. There we were never in the Pacific we were never on Uan Island Jack Callohill is talking about the Force's first mission to expel the Japanese from Kisa Island in Alaska campaign medals such as the Pacific Star were awarded to the

troops

who They were there but not all the Americans got that award the Australians got the award and but the Canadians didn't the Canadian veterans have been trying for years by John Hart from Alberta it's personal he's Jeffrey Hart's sonone of the original demons.

I made a couple of calls to Veterans Affairs about that and it really came down to you having to reincarnate King George 6 to change the policy on that and get the Pacific Star awarded to Canadians, is what I got after all this time, Canadian veterans are not holding their breath because Ottawa will change its mind. They will not go back and do anything about what happened in the past. They don't want to change too soon. We'll all leave and that'll be fine. Anyway, it will all be gone soon enough, yes, that's right, never mind, never mind, back in Helena, where they lined the streets to honor these aging heroes, Adams and Americans alike can retrace the route of the parade through which some of the toughest men marched in 1942. on the planet now traveling on a tram in 2015 to the memorial and monument erected by the military to honor the fallen and their brothers who survived the war but lost the battle over time David to Peterson in the last year 27 more of the devil The

brigade

passed away, may God keep these men in his hand and give them peace after this service.

Gordon Sims goes to the memorial to pay his respects to Bill Brotherton, yes, and when he read the list today there were eight or nine very close friends of mine, who I didn't know had passed away, it's always a bit of a shock. You know, MH , so this is an emotional moment, it's quite an emotional thing, a lot of things go through your mind when you watch it, you know, this fell here, we found out that he was 17 when he died when he arrived. killed in action yes, all these all these names have a little story behind them and this is their story now literally carved in stone the names of those who fought against the unfit who stood shoulder to shoulder Nation with nation brother with brother 70 years later The Devil's Brigade lives to tell its stories remembered forever.