Veterans of famed Canada-U.S. ‘Devil’s Brigade’ to receive Congressional Gold Medal

[Subdeacon Joe]

Veterans of famed Canada-U.S. ‘Devil’s Brigade’ to receive Congressional Gold Medal

 

This week’s Canada Day and U.S. Fourth of July celebrations have
brought belated recognition to a group of Second World War veterans who
served together in the elite commando unit known as the Devil’s Brigade —
about 175 surviving members of which are to be awarded a U.S.
Congressional Gold Medal in honour of their battlefield heroics and
sacrifices 70 years ago.

The proposed tribute was approved last
week by the U.S. Senate, as it had been in May by the U.S. House of
Representatives. The bill conferring the medals now awaits only the
signature of U.S. President Barack Obama, who is expected to quickly
approve the award to the remaining veterans of the 1939-45 war’s
eventual 3,000-strong First Special Service Force — including about 60
of the 1,000 Canadians who served in the top-secret unit immortalized in
a 1968 film starring William Holden.

The planned U.S. honour for
the war’s only joint U.S.-Canada military unit follows Canadian
government recognition earlier this year when Defence Minister Peter
MacKay presented brigade veterans with the Minister’s Award for
Operational Excellence at a ceremony on Parliament Hill.

“I think that would be great,” said 93-year-old Henry Planger, a Devil’s Brigade
veteran from Pincher Creek, Alta. “Anytime they want to hand out a
medal, it’s OK with me.”

 

 

Musta been a sergeant.

[Utah Bob #35998]

Outstanding. Long overdue! They were actually nicnamed the Black Devils by the Gemans at Anzio due to their tactic of blackening their faces and slipping behind the lines in the dead of night to slit throats and bring back prisoners. Played hell with the German's morale. Heroes all!

http://www.firstspecialserviceforce.net/

I guess somebody in Hollywood theought The Devils Brigade sounded more politically correct.