Filthy Thirteen

The 13-man unit acquired the nickname the Filthy Thirteen while living in Nissen huts in England, refusing to bathe during the week in order to use their water ration for cooking game poached from the neighboring manor.

[3] After coming back from being AWOL in Paris after Market Garden,[4] McNiece volunteered for the Pathfinders, thinking he would never make another combat jump.

Half the surviving members of the original Filthy Thirteen followed him into the Pathfinders, thinking they would sit out the rest of the war training in England.

"[12][13] Arch Whitehouse wrote an article for True magazine[11] that had some of the myths that would eventually find their way into E. M. Nathanson's book The Dirty Dozen which was the basis of the 1967 film of the same name.

Whitehouse claimed the original 12 members were full blood Indians who had sworn not to bathe until they jumped into combat and it required their new lieutenant to beat each one in a fight in order to win their respect.

E. M. Nathanson was informed by a friend, Russ Meyer, who worked on documentaries for the war about a unit of condemned prisoners who were sent on a suicide mission—more likely one of the Filthy Thirteen myths.

Barbara Maloney, the daughter of John Agnew, told the American Valor Quarterly that her father felt that 30% of the movie's content was historically correct, including a scene where officers are captured.

Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen were not convicts; however, they were men prone to drinking and fighting and often spent time in the stockade.

Killblane followed up both books with a more accurate history of the unit that included nearly all surviving member's accounts in War Paint; The Filthy Thirteen Jump into Normandy (2013).

[18][19] Constantine Nsar produced a documentary, "The Filthy Thirteen, Real Stories Behind the Lines," with interviews of Jake McNiece and Richard Killblane for a DVD release of "The Dirty Dozen" in 2006.

Réal Desmarets commissioned a memorial to the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and Filthy Thirteen at Brevands, France (their D-Day mission).