the man dropped to his knees crying and thanked casey celski.ritten in italian and english trying to explain what this was all about to his own son. this is one of the soldiers, he said, who saved our village. it was 50 years after the war had ended. casey celski turned to his son lee and said, all these years i wondered what i was doing here. now i know why we fought. the 1st special service force -- yes. [applause] the 1st special service force were all volunteered. the astonishing fact fact is not how many didn't finish but how many survived. they operated under cover of darkness, deep behind enemy lines using unconventional warfare tactics and support of other units. every mission was a suicide mission. when a forceman went awol, it was from a hospital bed. that's true. more than one wounded ssfs man hearing his unit was heading out lept up from his bed and rejoined his unit, still stitched, bandaged and many times dressed in a hospital robe. the unit suffered 2,300 casualties. more than 130% of their original combat strength, but it never l

the man dropped to his knees crying and thanked casey celski.e. it was 50 years after the war had ended. casey celski turned to his son lee and said all these years i wondered what i was doing here. now i know why we fought. the 1st special service force -- yes. [ applause ] the 1st special service force were all volunteered. the a-a stonishing fact is not how many didn't finish but how many survived. they operated undercover of darkness, deep behind enemy lines using unconventional warfare tactics and support of other units. every mission was a suicide mission. when a forceman went awol, it was from a hospital bed. that's true. more than one wounded ssfs man hearing his unit was heading out lept up from his bed and rejoined his unit, still stitched bandaged and many times dressed in a hospital robe. the unit suffered 2,300 casualties. more than 130% of their original combat strength, but it never lost a mission. not one. the 1st special service force -- [ applause ] the force existed for only two years but its spirit lives on in the green beret