亚洲天堂 Lake resident Alan Blackwell is about to receive the highest expression of national appreciation given by the Congress of the United States - the congressional gold medal.
Among the people who have received such unique distinction are George Washington and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The 91-year-old war veteran will be honoured for his time serving in the First Special Service Force, commonly known as the Devil鈥檚 Brigade. This elite special operations unit consisted of 1800 soldiers from the U.S. and Canada. The Devil's Brigade is notorious for its 100 per cent success rate, as well its "impossible missions" to defeat the German Nazis during World War Two.
"They told us this was not a suicidal mission, but almost," he said. "And we never failed a mission."
In one of the unit's most challenging missions, soldiers climbed the back of a mountain in Italy in the middle of the night to take the Germans by surprise.
"Our allies had been shoved back from that mountain five times," said Blackwell. "Our commander said our allies were going about this the wrong way, and that we had to climb the cliff because the Germans would never expect us to do that. We had to do what they figured we couldn't do. So we climbed at night. It was pitch black. And at 6 o'clock in the morning we had almost 2000 men on top of the mountain. That was our toughest mission."
The volunteer soldiers for this special force consisted primarily of enlisted men who were working as lumberjacks, forest rangers and hunters. Blackwell found out about this opportunity soon after graduating from trades school as an electrician. He was sold on the thrill and honour of being part of such an elite group.
"We knew that we were in a special force," he said. "We had special training鈥� training that no other groups had."
Force members received intensive training for six weeks in Montana. Soldiers had to learn war tactics in a fraction of the time a regular soldier would. Training included hand-to-hand combat, the use of explosives for demolition, parachuting, rock-climbing, mountain warfare and ski troops.
Since Blackwell had previous experience with skiing, he was assigned to teach his counterparts how to ski. Some of the soldiers were Americans raised in southern states and, therefore, had never seen snow before.
After a couple weeks of training, Blackwell assumed his counterparts were ready to take on a bigger challenge, so he sent them down a hill that was a mile and a half long. The result was not as Blackwell had expected.
"I came over the first hill and saw that some of the guys were ass over tea kettle into a snowbank," he laughed.
The Devil's Brigade was formed in 1942 and was in operation until 1944.
When Blackwell returned home, he carried on as a guide outfitter for 52 years. He also wrote a book about his time growing up in Ootsa Lake called 70 Years in Paradise.
"I don't regret anything, I had a very productive life," he said.
Although being a part of the Devil's Brigade was an exciting time, Blackwell realizes how lucky he is to still be alive.
"We had lots of casualties," he said painfully. "I was very fortunate that I was one of the few who didn't get badly wounded."
According to Blackwell, approximately 200 members of the Devil's Brigade are still alive, including 50 Canadians. However, only 33 will be able to make it to the medal presentation in Washington, D.C.
The leadership of the U.S. House and Senate will present the congressional gold medal to the 33 force members on Feb. 3, 2015. Blackwell will not be attending the ceremony due to health reasons.
When asked how he felt about receiving this medal, his words were simple, but the tears and the spark in his eyes revealed the weight of the unimaginable challenges of war and what it really meant to have been a part of the Devi's Brigade.
"It's an honour," he said
