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T Sergeant Robert Salkeld served our country during WWII, volunteering for service on January 5,1942 in Harrisburg, PA. The United States Army transferred him to what was then the secret and elite First Special Service Force. The unit was a joint U.S. and Canadian effort that trained at Fort William Henry Harrison outside of Helena, Montana. It was commanded by Lt Col Robert Frederick. According to Wikipedia and Robert, they served in the Aleutian islands in August 1943. After crossing the Atlantic, the unit was initially part of “5th army” under General Mark Clarke in French Morocco. The other major campaigns involved battle in Naples with the 36th infantry division, then Anzio, followed by Rome-Arno 1943–1944, Southern France (Alpes-Maritimes) campaign in 1944, and the Rhineland campaign in 1944. Other actions are listed on Wikipedia.

A movie about them entitled “The Devil’s Brigade” starring William Holden tells part of their story. The TV documentary “Daring raids” tells about the unit’s assault of Monte La Difensa. The Germans called them the “Black Devils” due to their stealthy and effective nighttime use of their unusual double edged V42 stiletto knives… while their faces were camouflaged with black boot polish. The unit was disbanded in Dec 1944. It appears that Robert was then transferred to HQ 82 airborne and then the SVC Co, Det#1 508th airborne parachute infantry unit. His name is listed on both the 508th and “First Special Service Force” webpages.

He was awarded two Purple Hearts as a result of his injuries. One was for a shrapnel leg wound. The other wound involved shrapnel in his head behind his right eye. Field surgery was performed with a local anesthetic. The surgeons actually had to pulled one of his eyeballs out and lay it on his cheek to reach the shrapnel. He told his sister he could see in two directions, at the same time, during the operation. The surgeons did what he/they could, but he eventually went blind in his right eye.

Much more info about the unit is available on Wikipedia under “First Special Service Force.”

An entirely different unit trained in the United Kingdom for a similar purpose and was nicknamed “Darby’s Rangers”. A movie about them, by that name, was made starring James Garner. The two units were separate and distinct.