The Filthy Thirteen was the name given to the 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The 13-man unit acquired the nickname the Filthy Thirteen while living in Nissen huts in England, refusing to bathe during the week in order to use their water ration for cooking game poached from the neighboring manor.
Their mission was to secure or destroy the bridges over the Douve River during the Normandy Invasion of Europe in June 1944. Half were killed, wounded, or captured on the jump, but the rest, accomplished their mission. Most of the 3rd Battalion leadership had been killed on the jump, so without any contact with the 3rd Battalion, senior officers assumed the battalion had failed its mission and ordered the Air Force to bomb the bridges. The Filthy Thirteen also helped capture Carentan.
This unit was best known for the famous photo which appeared in Stars and Stripes, showing two members wearing Indian-style “mohawks” and applying war paint to one another. The inspiration for this came from unit sergeant Jake McNiece, who was part Choctaw. Later, this unit was the inspiration for the 1965 E. M. Nathanson novel and 1967 film The Dirty Dozen.
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