The First Special Service Force: A War History of The North Americans 1942-1944.

BURHANS, Robert D.

Item Number: 142355

Nashville: The Battery Press, 1981.

Later printing of the definitive account of the First Special Service Force. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated. Signed by approximately 115 members of the First Special Service Force on the pastedown, verso of the front cartographic endpaper, half-title page, and rear cartographic endpapers. Additionally inscribed by the author on the title page, “Good luck on your quest Robert D. Burhans.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Accompanied by a bronze commemorative medal issued by the First Special Service Force Association on June 4, 1984, in honor of Task Force Howze that aided the FSSF in the liberation of Rome, Italy, during World War II.

The First Special Service Force, nicknamed The Devil's Brigade, was an elite American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, under the command of the United States Fifth Army. The unit was organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana, in the United States. The Force served in the Aleutian Islands, and fought in Italy, and southern France before being disbanded in December 1944. The First Special Service Force was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Silver-Gilt Star, as well as the Distinguished Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism. A large number of the "Devil's Brigade" members were honored for their acts of valor, including Tommy Prince, Canada's most decorated First Nations soldier of World War II.