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Stars & Stripes described them as a “fabulous, ferocious gang of American paratroop desperados who refused to take a bath six months before D-Day.” Such was the lore of the “Filthy Thirteen,” the First Demolition Section, HQ Company, 506th PIR. On D-Day, they fulfilled their blood oaths, steeped in Indian tradition, and became the dirtiest disruption behind the German lines. Though nine would not return from France, all would live forever, as legends among the Screaming Eagles.
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Shipping added in checkout // print size: 13" x 16" // ships rolled in a tube
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MAIN EDITION (ONE SIGNATURE) - Less than 10 remain!
506 limited-edition prints, unnumbered, signed by "Filthy 13" paratrooper Jack Agnew. Includes 506th PIR patch, 101st patch and jump wings.
MAIN EDITION (TWO SIGNATURES) - Only 2 available!
Same as above but signed by "Filthy 13" paratrooper Jack Agnew and D-Day C-47 Pathfinder co-pilot Hal Sperber. Includes 506th PIR patch, 101st patch and jump wings.
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JACK AGNEW
An original member of the "Filthy Thirteen" (officially known as the First Demolition Section, HQ Company, 506th PIR), Agnew participated in the D-Day jump and Operation Market Garden before he and several of his fellow "Filthy Thirteen" paratroopers volunteered to become Pathfinders. On December 23, 1944, Agnew was amongst the two sticks of Pathfinders who parachuted into the besieged town of Bastogne to coordinate the aerial re-supply of the 101st Airborne Division.
HAL SPERBER
Hal Sperber served as a Pathfinder pilot during World War II before returning stateside to a celebrated postwar career that included flight testing, flying the B-26 in Korea, and commanding a forward air control squadron in Vietnam — accumulating some 10,000 hours across nearly every aircraft imaginable.
But nothing defined Sperber quite like the night of D-Day.
Flying as copilot alongside Pathfinder aircraft commander Clyde Taylor, their C-47 was struck just after crossing the French coastline at barely 200 feet — too low for anyone to bail out — with 23 men aboard. Through a combination of extraordinary airmanship and sheer nerve, the two pilots coaxed the crippled, overloaded aircraft on a single engine through heavy seas before ditching in the English Channel. Against all odds, every man survived, pulled from the frigid water by the British destroyer HMS Intrepid.
