Jake McNiece

Acting Sergeant James Elbert "Jake" McNiece (May 24, 1919 – January 21, 2013) was a US Army paratrooper in World War II. He was the leader of the Filthy Thirteen, an elite demolition unit whose exploits inspired the novel and movie The Dirty Dozen.

Early life
James McNiece was born on May 24, 1919 in Maysville, Oklahoma, the ninth of ten siblings born to Eli Hugh and Rebecca (née Ring) McNiece, and of partial Choctaw descent. The family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1931. In 1939, he graduated from Ponca City High School and went to work in road construction, and then at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, where he gained experience in the use of explosives.

Military career
McNiece enlisted for military service on September 1, 1942. He was assigned to the demolition saboteur section of what was then the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. This section would become the Filthy Thirteen, with McNiece as its sergeant and leader.

McNiece went on to make a total of four wartime combat jumps, the first as part of the Invasion of Normandy in 1944. In the same year he jumped as part of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, which was featured in the book (and subsequent film), A Bridge Too Far, and at the Siege of Bastogne, part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. His last jump was in 1945, near Prüm in Germany. He was discharged from the military in February 1946.

After World War II
In 1949, McNiece returned to live in Ponca City. He began a 28-year career with the United States Postal Service. His first wife Rosita died in 1952 and, a year later, he married Martha Beam Wonders. They had two sons and a daughter and remained married until his death. He and Martha had recently moved to Chatham, Illinois, to be closer to one of their sons in nearby Springfield.

Last years
In 2012, NcNiece was awarded the French Legion of Honour Chevalier class. He died on January 21, 2013 at the age of 93.

Other honors
McNiece was an inductee in the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, and an Honorary Colonel of the 95th Victory Division. He was the recipient of an Honorary master’s degree in Military Science from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. He had participated in military maneuvers there in 1943. In 2010, an action figure of McNiece, the last surviving member of the Filthy Thirteen, was released.