Summary of Richard Killblane & Jake McNiece's The Filthy Thirteen

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. This title has been generated using AI Audio.

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#1

I was never really interested in the war until after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I had been working as a fireman for the War Department for quite a while. After Pearl Harbor, there was a big project at Pine Bluff Perkins about sixty miles south of Little Rock, Arkansas.

#2

I wanted to be a paratrooper, so I told the recruiter I did not want the infantry or tanks or artillery, but paratroop service. He said a thousand people volunteer for paratroop duty, but only ten are selected who are physically fit.

#3

I enlisted in the paratroopers in September 1942. I preferred fighting on the ground to fighting in the air. I would not have to walk a hundred miles to get started. I would fly first class in a C-47 and jump right in the middle of them.

#4

I was sent to Fort Sill in 1942. There, I was put in charge of the seven volunteers who would become the first members of the airborne division. I saw that we were going to have a short stopover in Tulsa, so I asked Manual if he wanted to see his family one last time.