Special Mass today.

Today there will be a 3 p.m. Mass in honor of the First Special Service Force at the Cathedral of St. Helena. The Rev. Michael Benham, son of FSSF member Frank Benham, will celebrate the Mass. The Colors and FSSF members will be led into the cathedral by the Shining Thistle Pipe Band.

Meet the Devil's Brigade concludes with this feature. The First Special Service Force, precursor to the Green Beret, was an elite fighting unit of 2,300 Canadian-Americans who captured over 27,000 enemy prisoners during World War II. Today is the final day of their 60th reunion in Helena.

Mark Radcliffe escaped German interrogation

Mark Radcliffe of the First Special Service Force, while on patrol on the Anzio beachhead before the Allies broke the German defenses, was captured by the Nazis. He was then taken to La Torre for questioning by a German officer.

"All I was giving was my name, rank and serial number," Radcliffe relates. "Suddenly he whacked me across the throat with a 14-inch rubber truncheon."

About then the interrogation was interrupted when Allied artillery started shelling the area. Radcliffe's captors scattered for shelter, leaving only one German to guard three prisoners.

"When he wasn't looking, I hit him over the back of the head with a piece of wood, and we escaped," Radcliffe said.

The GIs worked their way back to the Allied line, traveling at night and hiding in trees during the day. On the third day, Radcliffe was almost back to his outfit when he was spotted and hit by mortar shrapnel, severing some tendons in his ankle.

When Sgt. Erickson found his immobile company commander, he began banging Radcliffe's head on the ground, demanding "Where the hell have you been?!"

Radcliffe was born in Farmington, N.M., in 1918, and graduated from high school in Albuquerque in 1937. He was ordered into active duty in 1941 to Fort Lewis as part of the 41st Division. He deployed to the South Pacific as Operations Sergeant Headquarters of the 161st Infantry Regiment, but before he saw any combat he was selected for Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.

After graduating OCS in July 1942, he was selected to participate in the Plough Project at Fort Harrison in Helena. In early August, while attending a dance at the Armory, Radcliffe's buddy called him "chicken" if he didn't approach one particular girl. So he asked her to dance, and it was "love at first sight." The wedding took place a month later, and this September Mark and Edith (Bauer) Radcliffe will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

Radcliffe shipped out to North Africa with the FSSF as Commander of the 3rd Company, 3rd Regiment. He was involved in the conquests of Mount la Difensa and Mount Majo in southern Italy in the freezing winter of 1943-44, and then the force was assigned to assist at the Anzio beachhead.

After his escape, Radcliffe was transported to the hospital in Naples. He decided to return to the FSSF, in spite of the Army's standing orders that all wounded were to be sent to Repo-Depo.

"When I got back to Force Headquarters I was AWOL from the hospital. General Fredericks then assigned me to a special mission," Radcliffe recalls.

He was instructed by Major General Keyes to lead an independent corps reconnaissance mission along Highway 6 and penetrate Rome prior to the main entry.

"I was told the reason an officer from the force was selected was because of the FSSF's ability to get the job done," Radcliffe says.

They departed II Corps Headquarters on June 3, 1944, with intentions of joining the Ellis Task Force, which was spearheading the drive on Rome. But after passing a convoy, which they learned later was the task force, near Frascati and encountering enemy fire, the mission turned out to be a lot more than just public relations. They engaged in several skirmishes along the way, and then at 6 a.m. on June 4, Radcliffe's special corps patrol passed through Rome's Porta San Giovanni gate, one-half hour before any other Allied unit.

Radcliffe returned to Helena after the war (some of his medals include the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with cluster and the Purple Heart with two clusters), where he and Edith raised their children, Bob and Carolyn. He spent a career in civil engineering and stayed involved with the armed forces in the Army Reserves and, more recently, with the Montana Military Museum.

Nowadays, whenever his throat hurts and goes hoarse, it reminds Radcliffe of a certain truncheon-wielding Nazi officer in La Torre, Italy.

Herb Goodwin was never

wounded in World War II

Herb Goodwin was born in Elmira, Ontario, in 1919. He attended six years of` high school -- three years basic and three years commercial, which is equivalent to two years of college. Goodwin joined the Army in 1940 in Kitchener, Ontario, and was part of the Scots Fusiliers of Canada. After N.C.O. school in London, Ontario, and Officer Training Center in Gordon Head, British Columbia, Goodwin graduated from Brockville OTC as a 2nd Lt. in July 1942. One of his classmates was Stan Waters, who went on to become a three star Canadian Army General, and later was a senator in Alberta.

Goodwin's first night in Helena he stopped into the Placer Hotel's Cheerio Lounge and met Doris Porten of East Helena. Eleven months later they were married in Vermont, where the FSSF was training.

When the Devil's Brigade made its famous assault on Mount la Difensa in southern Italy in December 1944, Goodwin was at the base of the mountain assigned to 6th Company, 1st Regiment, 2nd Battalion. They were pinned down along the trail by heavy shell and mortar fire from the lower German outfits, sustaining heavy casualties. During this action, Goodwin lost a carbine, shattered by an enemy round.

After retrieving their casualties, they were sent to the top of la Difensa as reinforcements. Their next battalion mission, from their base at Caserta, was to take Hill 720. Moving at night, they encountered "friendly fire" from U.S. artillery. "We radioed and finally got them to stop shelling, but lost a lot of men first," Herb recalls.

"After capturing the hill, we then received heavy enemy fire. We lost our company commander on the top." Goodwin, who became company commander for the conquest of Mount Majo, was hit by machine gun fire in the attack, which went through his backpack, knocking him down.

"My rations were ruined and a bullet went through my flashlight. But it still worked," he smiles.

When the force assisted in the siege and breakout of Anzio, Goodwin's company helped capture 120 Nazis. The 6th was one of the lead units to push off the beachhead. Accompanied by some armor, they exchanged fire with some Tiger tanks past Highway 7, and then joined up with French forces on Highway 6 into Rome. Here Goodwin was promoted to captain and executive officer of 2nd Battalion.

Next, during the invasion of southern France, Goodwin recalls that the taking of a medieval fort on Port-Cros was a costly procedure, but they succeeded with the help of dive-bombers and naval gunfire. In the push eastward to the Franco-Italian border, he lost Floyd Schmidt, a friend from his hometown.

After the FSSF broke up, Goodwin became an instructor at Aldershott, England, and then went to London, Ontario. He and Doris came back to Helena in January 1946. Goodwin worked for Unemployment Compensation from 1946-48; McKinnon-Decker Construction from 1948-1953; and the Montana National Guard from 1954-65. He then owned and operated Herb's Quick Service (across from the Helena Junior High) from 1965-82 before retiring. Although the couple had no children, they helped raise a niece and two nephews. Doris Goodwin passed away in 2000.

Goodwin, who was never wounded, describes his experiences in World War II as "very exciting; it was quite an adventure. One of the worst parts was at graves registration, to identify people. I remember how lucky I felt to still be alive."

Emil Eschenburg retired in Helena after 31 years

of military duty

Emil Eschenburg was a 26-year-old Army major with the FSSF, and part of the retaking of Kiska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 1943. As the six GIs climbed into their five-man rubber raft, they were unaware that the Japanese had already evacuated only mere hours earlier.

Shortly after debarking into the black, icy waters of the Bering Sea, Emil's overloaded boat was immediately swamped by a four-foot wave.

"From that point on the tide took us further and further from the shore," Emil relates. After five hours of desperate bailing and paddling, someone spotted an object in the darkness. "I grabbed my whistle and started blowing. I blew and blew that whistle with all the adrenaline in my body."

An American PT boat picked up the men and delivered them to a troopship.

"We thawed out and took part in the landing at 6:30 a.m.," Emil said.

Eschenburg was born on a farm near Mount Clemens, Mich., in 1916. One of seven children, he attended a one-room grade school. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Michigan State.

"During my four years at Michigan State, I carried a full schedule, worked 40 hours a week, and lived on 1½ meals per day," Eschenburg said.

The Canadian-Americans' next mission after Alaska would be the assault on the impregnable Mount la Difensa in southern Italy.

General Frederick and Lt. Colonel Eschenburg reconnoitered the objective in an artillery observer plane -- a two-seated Piper Cub. "While flying over this very high mountain, we observed that one side was a straight-up cliff. The Nazi anti-aircraft fire was like the Fourth-of-July fireworks."

During the invasion of southern France, Eschenburg became lead scout (through booby traps and land mines) for his 200 men in the middle of the night after the landing. Later he was attached to the 6th Army and participated in the liberation of the Gironde Estuary in western France and the opening of the Port of Bordeaux to Allied shipping. On VE Day, Eschenburg's outfit took over the Dachau Concentration Camp in Munich.

Eschenburg returned for stateside duty after the war, and then, during the Korean War in 1952, he commanded the 35th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division.

Eschenburg's outfit relieved the Marines who were holding the line next to the Panmunjom Corridor, and engaged in combat against the North Koreans and Chinese.

He served two tours in Vietnam as First Division's assistant commander. While his superior was stateside, Eschenburg commanded the division during the intense combat of the Tet Offensive in 1968. Determined to continue to lead by example, he spent part of every day under fire with his men.

Eschenburg retired from the Army in 1970 after 31 years of military duty, 23 years as a parachutist. He served in three wars, spent seven years in combat, fought in 16 battles and received 115 decorations -- 77 of those for valor.

He returned to Helena in 1972 with his wife Dolly (the couple has four children), where he has made a second career in real estate. With indefatigable energy, he still works more than 40 hours per week at 84 years of age.

Referring to his generation, Emil said, "Next time you see a guy with white hair, in his 80s, go up and shake his hand. Chances are he was in the war."

Curt Synness, an IR staff writer, is a U.S. Navy veteran. He remembers ordering pop and candy from Herb Goodwin at "Herb's" from 1965-67 while attending Helena Junior High. Curt can be contacted at 227-3382 or email curt52s@hotmail.com.