Fighting with the Filthy Thirteen: The World War II Story of Jack Womer, Ranger and Paratrooper

In 2004 the world was first introduced to The Filthy Thirteen a book describing the most notorious squad of fighting men in the 101st Airborne Division (and the inspiration for the movie The Dirty Dozen). In this long awaited work one of the squads integral membersand probably its best soldierreveals his own inside account of fighting as a spearhead of the Screaming Eagles in Normandy Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. Jack Womer was originally a member of the 29th Infantry Division and was selected to be part of its elite Ranger battalion. But after a year of grueling training under the eyes of British Commando instructors the 29th Rangers were suddenly dissolved. Bitterly disappointed Womer asked for transfer to another elite unit the Screaming Eagles where room was found for him among the divisions most miscreant squad of brawlers drunkards and goof-offs. Beginning on June 6 1944 however the Filthy Thirteen began proving themselves more a menace to the German Army than they had been to their own officers and the good people of England embarking on a year-of ferocious combat at the very tip of the Allied advance in Europe. In this work with the help of Stephen DeVito Jack provides an amazingly frank look at close-quarters combat in Europe as well as the almost surreal experience of dust-bowl-era GIs entering country after country in their grapple with the Wehrmacht finally ending up in Hitlers mountaintop lair in Germany itself. Throughout his fights Jack Womer credited his Ranger/Commando training for helping him to survive even though most of the rest of the Filthy Thirteen did not. And in the end he found the reward he had most coveted all along: being able to return to his fiance Theresa back in the States. Table of Contents PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE 506TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY PRAYER 1. MY EARLY YEARS 2. FIRST JOBS 3. MEETING MISS THERESA COOK: MY FUTURE BRIDE 4. THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II 5. DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY: PRIVATE JACK WOMER 6. BECOMING A STAGE PERFORMER 7. WAR GAMES IN THE CAROLINAS 8. THE JAPANESE ATTACK PEARL HARBOR 9. OFF TO EUROPE TO FIGHT HITLER 10. ARRIVING IN ENGLAND: FIRST IMPRESSIONS 11. VOLUNTEERING TO BECOME AN ARMY RANGER 12. OFF TO SCOTLAND 13. CAUSING TROUBLE IN DUNDALK! 14. BACK TO ENGLAND AS RANGERS 15. RANGERS NO MORE 16. THE MAKING OF A PARATROOPER 1 2 3! 17. BECOMING ONE OF THE FILTHY THIRTEEN 18. LIFE AT THE WILLS MANOR ESTATE LITTLECOTE WILTSHIRE 19. AN ENCOUNTER WITH WINSTON CHURCHILL 20. PRELUDE TO OVERLORD: THE INVASION OF FRANCE 21. D-DAY MISSION DISCLOSED 22. THE INVASION IS ON ! 23. OFF TO A BAD START: JAMES GREENS PARACHUTE 24. D-DAY 25. D-DAY PLUS ONE 26. NO TIME TO CRY 27. GOO-GOO AND PEEPNUTS ARE KILLED 28. CARENTANA RED ROSE FOR A SOLDIER 29. BACK TO ENGLAND 30. OPERATION MARKET-GARDEN: THE BATTLE FOR HOLLAND 31. THE JUMP INTO HOLLAND 32. EINDHOVEN 33. THE KILLING OF CORPORAL JOSEPH J. OLESKIEWICZ. 34. LIFE IN HOLLAND 35. GOODBYE TO HOLLAND 36. ON TO BASTOGNE: THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE 37. A USELESS REPLACEMENT 38. MIKE MARQUEZ AND THE SCREAMING MEE-MEES 39. CHRISTMAS DAY 1944 40. STAYING WITH CIVILIANS 41. OH THOSE NINETY-DAY WONDERS! 42. TO THE FATHERLAND! 43. LIVING WITH THE ENEMY 44. THE WAR IN EUROPE IS OVER! 45. THE LAST PATROL 46. GOING HOME 47. SETTLING BACK INTO CIVILIAN LIFE 48. BRINGING PEACE TO THE HALE FAMILY 49. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY