Officially known as 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Trained for behind the lines demolition work, their activities from D-Day on were legendary, as was their carousing and fights with M.P.s when not in combat. The mohawks were the idea of their leader, Sergeant Jake McNeice, who was part Choctaw.
The exploits of the Filthy Thirteen and Sergeant “McNasty” McNeice were so over-the-top that eighty years after, they read like improbable fiction. Except, of course, that as jaw-dropping (and often hilarious) as they were, it all actually happened. Truly, there were giants in those days.
An excellent, if occasionally spicy, recounting of McNasty and his Filthy Thirteen is a YouTube video titled America’s Airborne Anti-hero: Jake ‘McNasty McNeice from a gentleman called the “Fat Electrician”. The video clocks in at a brisk, amazing, hilarious 36 minutes and has had almost four million views in the eleven months since it was posted. Highly recommend.