Bowie veteran tells story of World War II unit
Be it music, the military or movies, Les Owen doesn’t do things halfway.
“I think that’s a very accurate assessment,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t think there’s anyone who knows me who would disagree with that.”
In his late 20s, the self-proclaimed former hippie auditioned for the “Jazz Ambassadors” service band at Fort Meade —just to sharpen up his saxophone skills — and wound up spending more than 30 years in the military.
A decade later, the lifelong movie buff began dabbling in film — buying equipment, taking classes, learning techniques to make films for the U.S. Army Band, among others.
He wound up starting his own production company.
Then, a couple of years ago, when he first learned — by accident — about a top-secret World War II-era special forces unit, he knew he wanted to make a documentary film about it.
Owen, of Bowie, has attended reunions of the First Special Services Force and conducted interviews with surviving members, their widows and children. He accompanied the group on its 2014 tour to mark the 70th anniversary of their most memorable operations and filmed the ceremony when the group was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
The result is “Victory Remembered, Legacy of the Black Devils,” which he released in 2015. Owen initially planned to make the film for the surviving members of the unit. The group originally numbered about 2,300, although fewer than 100 remain alive today.
“Before I did it, I knew I would make a documentary film,” the 61-year-old Owen said. “To me, that was the most valuable thing I could do for them at that point.
We’re getting to the point where we’re not going to have them around any more.”
But it’s becoming a bigger project than he envisioned. He sold about 3,000 DVDs of the two-hour version of his film. He has re-assembled much of the footage that wound up on the cutting-room floor (bits of interviews, film that didn’t quite work for his narrative) and is posting it in bits and pieces — Owen calls them chapters — on YouTube so people can view them for free.
His efforts to keep the story alive just got a huge boost when Life Size Entertainment agreed to distribute a 55-minute version of “Victory Remembered” all over the world to foreign television channels and online streaming services like Hulu Plus, Dailymotion and Amazon Prime.
“Having a partnership with a distribution company should make all the difference in the world,” he said. “There’s no way I could reach all the people I would like to reach on my own. Of course, the internet is worldwide.
The goal is to share the story with as many people as possible.”
That Owen – or anyone who knows of the group, nicknamed the “Black Devils” – would find their story compelling is no surprise.
The First Special Service Force — the forerunner of today’s Green Berets or Navy SEALs — was assembled in the summer of 1942 with hand-picked soldiers from Canadian and American regiments. Most did their training in Helena, Mont., in the brutal winter weather there because their original mission was supposed to involve knocking out German power plants in Norway.
Members of the all-volunteer FSSF were trained in parachuting, mountain-climbing, cross-country skiing, cold-weather survival, explosives and hand-to-hand combat.
As civilians, many had worked as lumberjacks, hunters, game wardens and forest rangers — rugged men, able to cope with less-than-ideal conditions and comfortable off on their own.
Ultimately, the Norway plan was scrapped, but the FSSF eventually made its biggest mark in the Italian campaign, taking two supposedly impregnable German strongholds in the mountains. The group also held down its section of the beach at the Battle of Anzio for three months while badly outnumbered. Members of the unit were also the first North American soldiers to re-enter Rome in spring 1944, defusing explosives the Germans had set on the bridges into the city in anticipation of the Allied forces’ advance.
In general, though, the commandos did their best work under cover of darkness, blackening their faces with boot polish to avoid detection. Supposedly, the diary entry of a captured German soldier referred to the unit as “The Black Devils” and the name stuck.
In a chilling bit of psychological warfare, the Black Devils left calling cards, printed in German, atop the bodies of the soldiers they had killed. The cards bore the ominous warning: “The worst is yet to come.”
The Black Devils were the subject of a 1968 film “The Devil’s Brigade” starring William Holden and Cliff Robertson. They also served as the inspiration for the 2009 Quinton Tarantino film “Inglorious Basterds,” which starred Brad Pitt.
But surviving members of the unit told Owen they preferred the clear-eyed, nonglamorized treatment his documentary offered.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Owen said.
As the warwound down, the BlackDevils were eventually disbanded, with the members being absorbed into other units. Since secrecy about their very existence — not to mention their missions — was paramount, Black Devils alumni generally kept quiet about their exploits.
For Owen, telling their story has become a quest. Recently, he drove up to Pennsylvania to conduct another interview with another survivor. He’ll add that to the stockpile of what he makes available on YouTube, and he’s happy to do screenings and talk to veterans groups or historical gatherings so that the Black Devils’ story stays alive – even as the survivors die off.
“I’m in this for the long haul,” he said. jmcnamara@capgaznews.com
“I think that’s a very accurate assessment,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t think there’s anyone who knows me who would disagree with that.”
In his late 20s, the self-proclaimed former hippie auditioned for the “Jazz Ambassadors” service band at Fort Meade —just to sharpen up his saxophone skills — and wound up spending more than 30 years in the military.
A decade later, the lifelong movie buff began dabbling in film — buying equipment, taking classes, learning techniques to make films for the U.S. Army Band, among others.
He wound up starting his own production company.
Then, a couple of years ago, when he first learned — by accident — about a top-secret World War II-era special forces unit, he knew he wanted to make a documentary film about it.
Owen, of Bowie, has attended reunions of the First Special Services Force and conducted interviews with surviving members, their widows and children. He accompanied the group on its 2014 tour to mark the 70th anniversary of their most memorable operations and filmed the ceremony when the group was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
The result is “Victory Remembered, Legacy of the Black Devils,” which he released in 2015. Owen initially planned to make the film for the surviving members of the unit. The group originally numbered about 2,300, although fewer than 100 remain alive today.
“Before I did it, I knew I would make a documentary film,” the 61-year-old Owen said. “To me, that was the most valuable thing I could do for them at that point.
We’re getting to the point where we’re not going to have them around any more.”
But it’s becoming a bigger project than he envisioned. He sold about 3,000 DVDs of the two-hour version of his film. He has re-assembled much of the footage that wound up on the cutting-room floor (bits of interviews, film that didn’t quite work for his narrative) and is posting it in bits and pieces — Owen calls them chapters — on YouTube so people can view them for free.
His efforts to keep the story alive just got a huge boost when Life Size Entertainment agreed to distribute a 55-minute version of “Victory Remembered” all over the world to foreign television channels and online streaming services like Hulu Plus, Dailymotion and Amazon Prime.
“Having a partnership with a distribution company should make all the difference in the world,” he said. “There’s no way I could reach all the people I would like to reach on my own. Of course, the internet is worldwide.
The goal is to share the story with as many people as possible.”
That Owen – or anyone who knows of the group, nicknamed the “Black Devils” – would find their story compelling is no surprise.
The First Special Service Force — the forerunner of today’s Green Berets or Navy SEALs — was assembled in the summer of 1942 with hand-picked soldiers from Canadian and American regiments. Most did their training in Helena, Mont., in the brutal winter weather there because their original mission was supposed to involve knocking out German power plants in Norway.
Members of the all-volunteer FSSF were trained in parachuting, mountain-climbing, cross-country skiing, cold-weather survival, explosives and hand-to-hand combat.
As civilians, many had worked as lumberjacks, hunters, game wardens and forest rangers — rugged men, able to cope with less-than-ideal conditions and comfortable off on their own.
Ultimately, the Norway plan was scrapped, but the FSSF eventually made its biggest mark in the Italian campaign, taking two supposedly impregnable German strongholds in the mountains. The group also held down its section of the beach at the Battle of Anzio for three months while badly outnumbered. Members of the unit were also the first North American soldiers to re-enter Rome in spring 1944, defusing explosives the Germans had set on the bridges into the city in anticipation of the Allied forces’ advance.
In general, though, the commandos did their best work under cover of darkness, blackening their faces with boot polish to avoid detection. Supposedly, the diary entry of a captured German soldier referred to the unit as “The Black Devils” and the name stuck.
In a chilling bit of psychological warfare, the Black Devils left calling cards, printed in German, atop the bodies of the soldiers they had killed. The cards bore the ominous warning: “The worst is yet to come.”
The Black Devils were the subject of a 1968 film “The Devil’s Brigade” starring William Holden and Cliff Robertson. They also served as the inspiration for the 2009 Quinton Tarantino film “Inglorious Basterds,” which starred Brad Pitt.
But surviving members of the unit told Owen they preferred the clear-eyed, nonglamorized treatment his documentary offered.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Owen said.
As the warwound down, the BlackDevils were eventually disbanded, with the members being absorbed into other units. Since secrecy about their very existence — not to mention their missions — was paramount, Black Devils alumni generally kept quiet about their exploits.
For Owen, telling their story has become a quest. Recently, he drove up to Pennsylvania to conduct another interview with another survivor. He’ll add that to the stockpile of what he makes available on YouTube, and he’s happy to do screenings and talk to veterans groups or historical gatherings so that the Black Devils’ story stays alive – even as the survivors die off.
“I’m in this for the long haul,” he said. jmcnamara@capgaznews.com
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