Jack Womer

Jack Neitz Womer (18 June 1917 – 28 December 2013) was a decorated American World War II veteran and a member of the Filthy Thirteen demolition unit who was known for his World War II exploits. Womer was a member of the 29th Ranger Battalion, the 101st Airborne Division and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR).

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 nicknamed the Filthy Thirteen. 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 in combat. In May 2012, Womer's biography, Fighting With the Filthy Thirteen: The World War II Story of Jack Womer: Ranger and Paratrooper, co-written 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— mainly 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. In 1922, 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 eight-member Womer family relocated 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, where he enjoyed dancing in nightclubs. During the late 1930s Womer was known as the best jitter-bugger in Baltimore, and was nicknamed “jitterbug”.

Military service

Womer was drafted into the U.S. Army on 25 April 1941. He was assigned to the 175th Infantry Regiment, Company C, of the 29th Infantry Division. From April to September 1941, he trained with the 29th Infantry Division at Fort Meade, Maryland. A year later, the Division was sent to Europe by sea. Approximately half of the Division was sent in late September 1942 on the Queen Mary. Womer and other volunteers who completed the training officially became 29th Rangers and were sent back to England. Womer said this training was the most brutal he ever experienced, but credited it for enabling him to think strategically and tactically during combat, and saving his life and the lives of others. had heard that Womer was trained as a Commando and had been in the 29th Ranger Battalion. Impressed with Womer's credentials, McNiece requested his assignment to the Filthy Thirteen.

With the Filthy Thirteen, Womer participated in Operation Overlord, and later in Operation Market-Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. Womer relied heavily on his Commando training during these battles; he credits it with his own survival and enabling him to keep many other men from being killed. After Jake McNiece left the Filthy Thirteen in December 1944, Womer was promoted to buck sergeant to fill McNiece's position, which he maintained at the outset of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 until the end of the war. Womer was the only member of the Filthy Thirteen to participate in the Normandy Invasion, Operation Market-Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and to advance on Adolf Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, Germany, while a member of the Filthy Thirteen.

Post-World War II Womer was discharged from the military in September 1945. He returned to his parents' home in Dundalk and to his job at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point. In November 1945 he married his fiancée, Theresa Cook. He retired in 1982 after more than forty years at Bethlehem Steel. In June 2003, Womer was contacted by Stephen C. DeVito, after DeVito obtained an original photograph of Womer with six other men taken in February 1943, when they were training to become 29th Rangers. Womer and DeVito became friends and co-wrote Womer's biography, Fighting with the Filthy Thirteen, which was published in May 2012 by Casemate Publishing. In 2012, out of gratitude for his military service, people in France petitioned the French government to award him the French Legion of Honor medal, the highest medal awarded by the French government. Womer was awarded the 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