Jack Womer

Jack Womer
Nickname(s)	"Hawk Eye"
Born	(1917-06-18)June 18, 1917 Lewistown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	December 28, 2013(2013-12-28) (aged 96) Dundalk, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	29th Ranger Battalion 101st Airborne Division 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	Second World War Normandy Invasion (Operation Overlord) Operation Market-Garden Battle of the Bulge
Awards	Legion of Honour Bronze Star Bastogne Medal Honorable Service Lapel button Sharpshooter Badge

National Order of the Legion of Honour
Knight medal of the French Légion d'honneur

Jack Neitz Womer (18 June 1917 – 28 December 2013) was a decorated American World War II veteran, a member of the Filthy Thirteen, and known for his World War II exploits. Womer was a member of both the 29th Ranger Battalion, the 101st Airborne Division and, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR).^[1] Throughout his service in the 101st Airborne Division, Womer was assigned to the Demolitions Platoon of the 506th PIR Regimental Headquarters Company, in the section known officially as the First Demolitions Section and infamously as the Filthy Thirteen.^[2] Known for his astuteness in battle, which he attributed to his rigorous training by British Commandos while in the 29th Ranger Battalion, Womer was never injured during combat despite his extensive combat experience^[1]

Of the members of the Filthy Thirteen that jumped into Normandy, France on 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy Invasion (Operation Overlord), Womer was the only one that remained in the Filthy Thirteen and participated in Operation Market-Garden (September 1944), the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944), and advance on Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, Germany in 1945. The other members of the Filthy Thirteen that jumped into Normandy were either killed in action, taken prisoner or transferred to other units prior to the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, and were replaced. At the time of his death, on December 28, 2013, Womer was the last living member of the original Filthy Thirteen.^[3] In May 2012, Womer’s biography, Fighting With the Filthy Thirteen,^[4] the World War II Story of Jack Womer: Ranger and Paratrooper, co-authored by close friend Stephen C. DeVito, was published.

Personal life

Womer was born on 18 June 1917 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania as the fourth child of Methodist parents, primarily of Dutch descent. His father, William Walker (“Walk”) Womer, worked as an open-hearth melter in a steel mill in Lewistown. Womer’s mother, Roxie Womer, was a housewife.^[1] A few months after Womer was born, Roxie took ill, and she sent Womer to Sunbury, Pennsylvania to live with his aunt Dolsie (Roxie’s sister).^[5] In 1922, while Womer was still living in Sunbury with his aunt, his father decided to move the family from Lewistown, Pennsylvania to a small row house in Sparrows Point, Maryland. In 1930 the Womer family, now totaling eight members, relocated a few miles away to a larger, single family house in Dundalk, Maryland.

Womer attended public and private schools. He was quite athletic and was awarded an athletic scholarship to attend the Franklin Day School, a private high school in Baltimore, Maryland. Womer loved to go dancing in the nightclubs of Baltimore. During the late 1930s he was known as the best jitter-bugger in Baltimore, and was nicknamed “jitterbug”.^[5]

Womer began his employment in 1936 at Bethlehem Steel and, except for the four and a half years he served in the military during World War II, continued his employment with Bethlehem Steel until he retired in 1982.

Womer married Theresa Cook in November, 1945, in Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church in Baltimore Maryland. They would remain married until Theresa’s death in 1987. They had two children: a son, John, and a daughter, Ellen.^[1] John died tragically in the early 1990s. Soon after Theresa’s death, Womer moved from their home in Dundalk, to a single family house just a few miles away in Fort Howard, Maryland. Womer died at 96 years of age on 28 December 2013.^[6]

Military service during World War II

Womer was drafted into the army on 25 April 1941: months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Womer was assigned to the 175th Infantry Regiment, Company C, of the 29th Infantry Division.

From April through September of 1941, Womer trained with the 29th Infantry Division at Fort Meade, Maryland.^[7] A year later the 29th Infantry Division was sent to Europe by boat. Approximately half of the Division was sent over in late September 1942 on the Queen Mary.^[7] In early October 1942 Womer and the rest of the Division were sent to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth. The 29th Infantry Division billeted at Tidworth Barracks, an old military camp in Wiltshire, England, located just a few miles from the famous Stonehenge archaeological site, and continued to undertake training exercises.^[7]

29th Provisional Ranger Battalion

In late November or early December of 1942, it was announced that a new Ranger battalion, the 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion, was to be formed within the 29th Infantry Division. Men for the new Ranger battalion were to be chosen from the 29th Infantry Division, and soldiers within the Division interested in being considered for the new battalion were asked to volunteer. Only those volunteers who met the very strict physical and psychological requirements would be allowed to try out for the 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion. Womer was among the relatively few volunteers who passed the initial screenings and allowed to continue to with the training to become a 29th Ranger.^[5] Womer and other volunteers who successfully completed the training at the Achnacarry House officially became 29th Rangers, and were sent back to England as Rangers. Womer claimed this training was the most brutal training he ever experienced, but credited the training for enabling him to think strategically and tactically during combat, and saving his life and the lives of others.^[5]

In early September 1943, Womer was asked to go to the British Commando Depot at Dorlin House, in Acharacle, Argyll, Scotland, to assist in the training of Ranger recruits. For nearly three weeks Womer trained with other British Commando and Royal Marine units in amphibious assault landings at the six very tough assault courses near the Dorlin House. However, in October 1943 the 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion was disbanded and the men returned to their original units within the 29th Infantry Division. Womer returned to Company C of the 175th Infantry Regiment.^[5]

101st Airborne Division and the Filthy Thirteen

Shortly after he returned to Company C of the 175th Infantry Regiment, Womer wanted to be reassigned to a more elite unit. He volunteered to become a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division. Womer had heard that William Myers, a sergeant of his while he was in the Rangers had also joined the 101st Airborne Division. Knowing Myers had been assigned to the Demolitions Platoon within the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 101st Airborne Division’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Womer joined the Demolitions Platoon.

The Demolitions Platoon was composed of three sections. Sergeant Myers was in a section that was already filled with men. However, at the time the First Demolitions Section, known famously and infamously as the “Filthy Thirteen” was short of men. Jake McNiece, the buck sergeant of the Filthy Thirteen,^[8] had heard that Womer was trained as a Commando and had been in the 29th Ranger Battalion. Impressed with Womer’s credentials, McNiece requested that Womer be assigned to the Filthy Thirteen.^[9] It was with the Filthy Thirteen that Womer participated valiantly in the Invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), and later in the Battle for Holland (Operation Market-Garden), and the Battle of the Bulge. Womer relied heavily on his Commando training during these battles, and he credits this training to his own survival^[10] and to enabling him to keep many other men from being killed. After Jake McNiece left the Filthy Thirteen in December 1944, Jack Womer was promoted to buck sergeant to fill the position vacated by McNiece, a position he maintained at the outset of the Battle of the Bulge, (December 1944), until the end of the war. Womer was the only member of the Filthy Thirteen to participate in the Normandy Invasion (Operation Overlord), Operation Market-Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and to advance on Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, Germany while a member of the Filthy Thirteen.

The exploits of the Filthy Thirteen was the inspiration behind an E. M. Nathanson book and a Hollywood film, The Dirty Dozen.^[9]

Post-World War II

Womer was discharged from the military in September 1945.^[11] He returned to his parent’s home in Dundalk, Maryland, and returned to his job at the Bethlehem Steel facilities in Sparrows Point. In November 1945 he married his fiancée, Theresa Cook. He retired in 1982 after more than forty years of service to Bethlehem Steel.

In June 2003, Womer was contacted by Stephen C. DeVito, after DeVito had obtained an original photo of Womer with six other men taken in February 1943, when Womer and the other men were training to become 29th Rangers. Womer and DeVito quickly became close friends, and the two would co-author Womer’s biography: Fighting with the Filthy Thirteen: The World War II Story of Jack Womer, Ranger and Paratrooper, published in May 2012 by Casemate Publishing.^[5]

Awards and recognitions

Womer received many medals and decorations from the United States government for his military service.^[7][12] In 2012, out of gratitude for his military service, people in France petitioned the French government to award Womer the French Legion of Honor medal, the highest medal awarded by the French government.^[7] Womer was awarded the Legion of Honor medal in June, 2013 during a formal ceremony held in Carentan, France.

• The Legion of Honor
• The Honorable Service Lapel button
• The Sharpshooter Badge
• The Bronze Star
• Bastogne Medal

Bibliography

• Womer, Jack N., and DeVito, Stephen C (2012). Fighting With the Filthy Thirteen, the World War II Story of Jack Womer: Ranger and Paratrooper. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 9781612001005. 
• Richard Killblane, Jake McNiece (2003). The Filthy Thirteen: The True Story of the Dirty Dozen. Presidio Press. ISBN 9781932033120. 
• Richard Killblane, Brian Miller (2013). War Paint: The Filthy Thirteen Jump into Normandy and Beyond. 
• Richard Killblane, Jake McNiece (2006). The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest - The True Story of the 101st Airborne's Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1932033465. 
• E.M. Nathanson (2001). The Dirty Dozen. Cassel. ISBN 9780304359288. 

External links

• Video on YouTube
• Honor
• Report
• Profile
• News report
• Write up
• News report

References