Exeter Airfield, Devon, UK
(US National Archives)
Private Clarence Ware and Private Charles ‘Chuck’ Plaudo were members of the ‘Filthy Thirteen’ or, to use the more prosaic name, the 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The work of the Demolition Section was to parachute behind enemy lines and demolish targets – arguably, suicide missions. The unit was unofficial.
A Demolition Section had thirteen men: two squads of six men each plus a section sergeant. Prior to D-Day, while stationed in Britain, the Section poached game – illegally – and cooked it in their water ration, rather than using the water to wash, shave and clean their uniforms, hence ‘filthy’.
The mohawks and warpaint were inspired by Jake McNiece, the unit sergeant, who was part Choctaw Native American. McNiece would go on to make four combat jumps, an extremely high number for a paratrooper.
‘We weren’t murderers or nothing, we just didn’t do everything we were supposed to do in some ways and did a whole lot more than they wanted us to do in other ways. We were always in trouble.’
Jack Agnew, member of the ‘Filthy Thirteen’
