One of the final members of an elite Second World War special forces military unit nicknamed the Devil’s Brigade has died.
Ret. Sgt. Vernon J. Doucette died in Ottawa on Jan. 21, 2019, with his daughter Paula by his side, according to his obituary.
Doucette, a long-time resident of Wedgeport, N.S., was 97.
READ MORE: Maritimers receive medal of honour for their work in the Devil’s Brigade
Doucette was roughly 21-years-old when he applied to join the First Special Service Force, known as the Devil’s Brigade, an elite strike force of roughly 1,800 soldiers that marked the first time Canada and the U.S. combined forces in a single unit.
“I guess I wanted to see action,” Doucette told Global News in April 2018, ahead of a reunion of the unit.
“That’s the short answer. We had action, all right.”
Many were lumberjacks and miners — already tough outdoorsmen — brought together at a secret training base. They even learned mountain climbing and skiing, an act that Doucette recalled fondly.
“They thought the Canadians, I guess, could ski,” Doucette laughed.
“At that time, I think I only saw one pair of cross-country skis until I went in the outfit.”
The Devil’s Brigade was known for ambitious evening raids that featured mountain climbing, parachute jumps, and the use of demolitions. They conducted covert operations the helped liberate France and Italy.
During August 1944, the brigade liberated 22 French towns in only 16 days.
But it was during one mission, where the unit played a key role in the 1944 Allied offensive in Anzio, Italy, that they earned their nickname.
As the brigade fought for 99 days without relief, the German forces began calling them “black devils” as the members of the unit were known to blacken their faces with shoe polish before evening raids.
Doucette said he never had a dull moment with many friends made in the unit, although he said the one melancholy memory lingered — the breakup parade of the force in 1944.
“They made the Canadians fall out,” recalled an emotional Doucette.
“That still bothers me.”
WATCH: Global News coverage of the Devil’s Brigade
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But Doucette did not make it through the war unscathed. He was injured four times during the war and earned the Silver Star medal of bravery.
After the war, he returned to Nova Scotia and went to university to become an engineer.
In 2015, the surviving members of the brigade were honoured with the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal for their service.
Vernon attended the ceremony at Emancipation Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
A year later Doucette was named a Knight of the French Legion of Honour by the Republic of France, one of the countries he had helped liberate.
Doucette was presented with the honour by the Consul General of France in Halifax at a ceremony at the Wedgeport Legion.
A celebration of life for Doucette will be held this summer in Wedgeport, N.S.
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