Fighting With the Filthy Thirteen

The World War II Story of Jack Womer - Ranger and Paratrooper

By: Jack Womer, Stephen Devito

Narrated by: John Allen Nelson

In 2004 the world was first introduced to The Filthy Thirteen, a book describing the most notorious squad of fighting men in the 101st Airborne Division (and the inspiration for the movie “The Dirty Dozen”).

In this long awaited work one of the squad’s integral members - and probably its best soldier - reveals his own inside account of fighting as a spearhead of the Screaming Eagles in Normandy, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge.

Jack Womer was originally a member of the 29th Infantry Division and was selected to be part of its elite Ranger battalion. But after a year of grueling training under the eyes of British Commando instructors, the 29th Rangers were suddenly dissolved. Bitterly disappointed, Womer asked for transfer to another elite unit, the Screaming Eagles, where room was found for him among the division’s most miscreant squad of brawlers, drunkards, and goof-offs.

Beginning on June 6, 1944, however, the Filthy Thirteen began proving themselves more a menace to the German Army than they had been to their own officers and the good people of England, embarking on a year-of ferocious combat at the very tip of the Allied advance in Europe.

In this work, with the help of Stephen DeVito, Jack provides an amazingly frank look at close-quarters combat in Europe, as well as the almost surreal experience of dust-bowl-era GI’s entering country after country in their grapple with the Wehrmacht, finally ending up in Hitler’s mountaintop lair in Germany itself.

Throughout his fights, Jack Womer credited his Ranger/Commando training for helping him to survive, even though most of the rest of the Filthy Thirteen did not. And in the end he found the reward he had most coveted all along: being able to return to his fiancée Theresa back in the States.

©2012 Stephen C. DeVito and Jack Womer (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great book

Don’t miss out on this amazing book. It’s a testament of an amazing generation. The man who never gave up.

Great book. Good listen.

Enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommend it. A great story about an average draftee who accomplished above average things and lived to tell about it.

Detailed accounts of WWII

This was a good book that shows another’s point of view of the Filthy Thirteen. Talks about his accounts from training, Normandy, France, Market Garden, Holland, Germany, and all locations in between. Also talks about the struggles of post war life and the troubles soldiers have upon returning and telling their story. I suggest also reading/listening to Jake McNiece’s book “The Filthy Thirteen”.

Interesting listen

I really enjoyed this book, I have listened to lots of WW2 books, this one wasn't as in depth in the battles but also talked about how he got drafted, living in England, even his English girlfriends, then how they lived as they went through Germany in the final few days of the war.
Lots of shorter anecdotes, kept u listening and entertained for the whole book.

Told how it really happened

Honest story of men in war and their loved ones who worry and wait with all the flaws and scars.

Fighting with the filthy thirteen

Good book very inlighting,I like the first person narrative and the honesty of the things he did in the war

An honest, real telling of a WWII experience

Any additional comments?

The main thing that I like about this story is the frankness of the author, telling his story as it really happened, including details that you can tell are real because not all reflect positively on his outlook and actions. It also is a great reminder of how the Greatest Generation is getting older and soon there will be very few WWII veterans left. We need to hear their stories and pass them along so that future generations of Americans never forget the sacrifices they made to keep us free. If you are a student of WWII and want to add a vivid, real account of what it was like to fight in some of the major battles of the Western Front to your library, this is must read.

The Filthy Thirteen minus a lot of the bragging

If you found yourself listening to this book you most likely listened to / read The Filthy Thirteen first. The author even mentions that book several times, as he was also in that small elite unit. Both stories obviouslly have similarities, yet, they are different and shift course. In this story you have Jack Womer a hard working man who was drafted and didn't want to go to war, but did his duty and then some. He doesn't smoke or drink, gamble, or cause many problems for his commanders unlike his rebellious hard drinking and hard fighting Sergeant, Jake McNiece (the main figure in the original Filthy Thirteen book).

Both books are great, but they have different tones. Jake's book has him down as a rebellious at times bragadocious misfit who deep down has a heart of Gold. Jack on the other hand reads more like most other WWII American memiors, which is actually a really good paring for the original book.

Jack Womer certainly was a hero, he did a lot for his country. This book highlights that well. It also has some areas not overly discussed in other memoirs, he digs deep in to his training as a ranger, he was drafted but joined elite units out of wanting to be the best, he openly talks about having a fiance back home and a girlfriend in England (they apperently knew about eachother), watching V1 rockets from the tower bridge with his gf, he fought a day or two after VE Day when his unit was ambushed by Nazi guerillas, he also readily talks about his combat stress and PTSD in others etc... Of course he did a lot more, but those stood out.

Also he seems to have taken a more direct laid back approach to the mythos of the Filthy Thirteen vs. Jake McNeice's at times Big Fish approach.

This book is highly recommended

One of the best…

This book ranks as one of the best personal memoirs that I have listened to and I have listened to an awful lot. I am one of the men who will not let these soldiers sacrifices be forgotten…just as he asks for at the end of this book. RIP Mr Womer

not my favorite

I enjoy a good memoir. this one lacks detail and insight into action. he did admit to treating German civilians, elderly women mostly, like garbage after victory, something i found very strange for a member of the 506 PIR