Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
SPECIAL FORCES
SPECIAL FORCES. A predecessor of the Green Berets, SEALS and similar unconventional warfare units, the First Special Services was formed in July, 1942. Participants were trained in every conceivable type of warfare close to and behind enemy lines including skiing, shooting bows and arrows, blow up bridges, crawling great distances, parachuting, and spending long hours in water. Maj. General Robert T. Frederick asked for volunteers from American and Canadian soldiers. The first training was given at Fort Ethan Allen near Helena, Montana. They were trained in amphibious warfare near Burlington, Vermont. Among the volunteers was Sgt, Kenneth Folsom and Staff Sgt. John Danner, both of Dubuque.
Danner was killed in combat on December 3, 1943 while attacking Germans in the Benedictine monastery near Casino, Italy. Folsom was killed on May 21, 1944 fighting on Anzio beachhead. He had been seriously wounded earlier in the year.
On August 14 and 15th, high ranking American, British and Canadian officials attended a memorial in Helena dedicated to the members of the First Service Force. Money for the memorial was provided in part from a collection made of $5,600 from members of the Force during WORLD WAR II. The soldiers on their first overseas mission had heard the people of Helena were taking up a collection to rebuild the cruiser "Helena" which had been sunk. The War Department, however, refused to allow them to donate their money in this way so it had been deposited in a bank in Helena. After the war, an additional $10,000 was donated by the people of Helena and relatives of deceased members of the First Special Service force.
---
Source:
1. "Memories Will be Honored," Telegraph-Herald, August 10, 1947, p. 30