Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 67 continued ... James 'Ross' Rutherford was born in Canso and grew up in Halifax. He sailed for England in early February aboard the Manchester Commerce and enlisted in the 2/Mancs on 20 February. He was evacuated from Dunkirk and remained with the 2/Mancs until September 1941, when he transferred to the Royal CanadianArmy Service Corps. Corporal James 'Ross' Rutherford of No. 1 CRU RCASC was killed in a motorcycle accident on Farnborough Road, Aldershot, on 18 March 1942. He was 25 years old and was to be married a week later. Ross is buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, England. Daniel ‘Dannie’ Serrick was born in Halifax on 14 September 1920 to David and Mabel Serrick. He enlisted in 2/Mancs on 21 September 1938 – a week after his 18th birthday. He was evacuated to England after fighting in the rear-guard action back to the beaches of Dunkirk in June 1940. Dannie was looking to get back into the fight so, a month later, he volunteered for ‘special service’ in No.5 Commando (5 Cdo). It is plausible that Dannie was part of one of the two raiding parties of 5 Cdo that, on the night of 30/31 August 1941, conducted two detailed beach reconnaissance raids west of Boulogne, France. On 25 October 1941 Dannie transferred to the Canadian Army and was posted to the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment (14th Canadian Hussars). It appears that Dannie, tired of training in England and, with no inkling of when his unit might see action, opted to volunteer for an American-Canadian unit that was being created back in the USA - the First Special Service Force (FSSF). On 23 August 1942 he was transferred to 2nd Company, 1st Regiment, 1st Special Service Force. In preparation for joining his new unit, he successfully earned his British jump wings and Canadian jump wings. He earned his American jump wings at Fort Benning, Georgia, in November 1942. He started training with the FSSF in Helena, Montana in December 1942. As part of this force, Staff Sergeant Daniel Serrick served in Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, Alaska between 24 July and 22 August 1943. He returned to San Francisco on 1 September and on 27 October he arrived in Newport News, Virginia. His unit was shipped from there to Naples, Italy, by way of Casablanca, Morocco and Algeria, arriving in Italy on 18 November 1943. Dannie took part in the FSSF’s debut, and arguably most famous, engagement of the force in Europe. Monte La Difensa was key to the Allies controlling the Mignano Gap. Taking the Mignano Gap was key to the 5th Army’s drive towards the Liri Valley, which was the passage to Rome. Under the cover of darkness on the night of December 2 the FSSF soldiers climb up the steep slope, using ropes to ascend the final 500 feet. The Force then pushed the Germans off Monte La Difensa in a matter of hours, when the Fifth Army planners had predicted it would take two or three days. The cost to the Force had been heavy: 73 killed, 313 wounded, and 9 missing in action. A further 116 were evacuated due to weather-related injuries and exhaustion. The FSSF troops took over the Mussolini Canal sector at Anzio on 2 February 1944. The ‘force’ had adapted their fighting tactics for nighttime raids that emphasized “stealth and violence” and the silent killing of the enemy. German units quickly pulled back about a kilometer to avoid the aggressive patrols of the ‘forcemen.’ It was during one of those night-time operations that one of the forcemen brought back the diary of a dead German soldier. Part of the diary noted "The black devils (Die schwarzen Teufel) are all around us every time we come into the line." The FSSF became known as the “black devils” (in 1968 Hollywood would dub them “The Devil’s Brigade”). continued ...
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